Paradox
by Frozen-Infinity
Summary: The Black Organization has fallen. Now, a much greater threat has risen in the form of an old friend. To save the future, sometimes you have to say goodbye to old friends. And other times, they never leave your side.
1. The Inevitable Conclusion

_So while writing Breaking Point, I kept getting what I call "Psycho Author Syndrome". Essentially, it was me wanting to divert my plot drastically and throw in things that would be waaaay out of place there... thus Paradox was born. Note, I call it "Psycho Author Syndrome" for a reason. So welcome to the plunny-born story of time-travel, fantasy, angst, and bonds._

 _Ah, I should mention that by the time this story takes place, future!Shinichi and future!Kaito are both about 43, while past!Shinichi and past!Kaito are both about 23._

* * *

Dashing through the cool Tokyo night had once been a favorite past-time for Kudo Shinichi. Chasing after the phantom thief clad in white had been both a challenge and a thrill back in the day. Now, however, it was anything but enjoyable. The thief's white attire had been long-ago stained with blood. The challenge had changed. There were no more jewels that Kaitou Kid wished to take away into the veil of night… No Task Force to head him off… No inspector to lead them… No, their game had changed, almost beyond recognition. And now Shinichi was dashing through the night, not to chase a thief, but to stop a murderer from claiming a whole host of new victims.

Dark and empty streets passed by in a blur as the detective bolted toward his destination. He could feel the burning in his lungs, but there was no time to rest. There never was. If Kaito didn't kill him, Shinichi was certain that exhaustion would. How long had it been since he'd gotten a proper night's sleep, again? At least a week… probably. How much longer before Kaito started blowing things up? Shinichi checked his watch once he hit the straightaway that led to the building he was after. Three minutes and maybe a kilometer left. He'd be cutting it pretty damn close, but that was how that bastard liked to keep it. He'd once even stated that if it wasn't a challenge to get there on time, it wasn't worth his effort.

The detective quickly approached the building, panting as he got to the front door and threw himself inside. Safe. The people inside were going to be safe. And he was going to have a heart-attack if he kept playing that bastard magician's psychotic game. How was it that _Kaito,_ of all people, ceased to value human lives? He quickly scanned the room, seeing nervous officers and panicked civilians, but no sign of Kaito.

A figure stepped out from the shadows on his left, clapping slowly as they approached the exhausted detective. "Nicely done, Kudo. I was starting to think you wouldn't make it," Kaito's cheerful voice praised. "I guess that's your exercise for tonight, ne?" Shinichi's ex-friend gently tossed a small green gemstone to him, "and that's your reward. Guess I'll see you later."

Kaito walked past him, but Shinichi caught hold of the hem of his shirt. The ex-thief stopped and quirked an eyebrow, offering the detective an amused look when he realized Shinichi was still trying to breathe properly. Thankfully, Kaito was patient enough to hold still and let him reclaim his ability to speak. "Is this some kind of joke to you?" Shinichi growled, moving his grip to the smaller man's shirt collar. He was sick and tired of all of this. Tired of solving Kaito's damn riddles and tired of throwing himself into harm's way for _nothing_. People's lives were little more than playthings, and if someone died, all that bastard did was shrug and look somewhere else. It was one never-ending nightmare set on repeat and he'd had enough!

Kaito offered a thoughtful look and moved a hand to his chin. "No, not a joke," he said, moving his crimson eyes to stare intently into Shinichi's blue ones, making the detective slightly shiver. The once-magician had been exposed to Pandora all those years ago… and maddened by its effects as well. Kaito's own life had ceased to mean anything to him when he'd gained immortality, and what a horrifying day that had been. What was that, some twenty years ago? And the poor bastard looked like he was going to be stuck young and insane forever. One would think there were worse fates or even claim that what he had was a blessing, but Shinichi was fairly certain Kaito wouldn't acknowledge them. The man _was_ alone in the world, after all. "See, I found a way to stop all the bloodshed and madness."

"You know," Shinichi glared, meeting the smaller man's eyes, "there's one way that doesn't require all that much effort. Just stop what you're doing." Why the hell was he trying to reason with _Kaito_ of all people. Even before Pandora, the magician wasn't exactly the first person you'd go to for something simple. The man had once even found a way to make tying a shoe far more complicated than it had any right being. And if he planned on stopping his killings, then how in hell's name would he complicate that? Actually, Shinichi didn't want to know.

Grinning, Kaito replied, "Well, I _could_ just quit… but that wouldn't _fix_ anything, now would it?" Within a handful of seconds, the man had worked himself free from Shinichi's grip and took a few steps toward the door. "No, I plan on a revolution. A marvel. A miracle, if you will." His grin grew until it would put the Cheshire Cat to shame, making the detective reach for his gun on instinct. That grin was full of bad things. It promised death and mayhem in the immediate future and put Shinichi on-edge. "I'm going to change history itself," he whispered, taking a few steps back toward the detective, making sure he was right in the detective's face. "I'm going to right the wrongs I was given… by the others and by you. You're welcome to try to stop me. In fact, I hope you do. All the more fun for me." By that point, the ex-thief's smile looked like a slasher smile from a horror movie and he let out a chilling laugh. Okay, so maybe Shinichi's nightmare was going to get much _much_ worse. God save them all.

"You… What in hell's name are you talking about?" Shinichi growled, doing his best not to show his intimidation. "I didn't do _anything_ to you! _Nothing_!" It wasn't his fault that their attack on the Black Organization all those years ago had ended so badly. It wasn't his fault that Kaito had lost everything. Hell! He'd even tried to help the poor bastard, at least until he'd found the "surprise" that had been left in that damn box for him… Burn down his house while he's inside, fine. _Kill_ all his friends and family? That crossed the line by a long-shot! If anything, it should be Shinichi after Kaito and _not_ the way it was now!

The smaller man shrugged. "Then stop me. You have the tool to do so." He gestured to the small gem in Shinichi's possession and walked off. "Tomorrow at noon I'll fix everything. Best of luck." Bystanders quickly fled as Kaito passed them, even the police left a large path for him to leave with. Poor officers were in a worse state than Shinichi himself. Stuck at every crime scene and not able to do anything to stop the insane immortal that plagued them. They _had_ arrested him a couple of times… even managed to get him into the prison. And _that_ was when the jails started spontaneously combusting. So, now there wasn't a whole lot that _could_ be done with the man, other than clear the civilians and wait for the detective to show up. For some reason or another, Shinichi's mere presence usually kept Kaito from killing. Even now, he couldn't say what the real reason Kaito kept him alive was, but if it helped keep innocents alive, then he wasn't going to complain.

And what the hell was up with that whole spiel about fixing history? Kaito was insane, but not stupid. There's no way to change the past; what's done was done. If, for whatever reason, there _was_ a way to go back and fix the past, the old detective would've done that already. He would've stopped Kaito from killing Ran and found some dark pit to abandon the then-thief in. He would've just given up on Kaito from the get-go and prevent himself from ever feeling this tragedy he called his life. No, it was impossible. Ridiculous, even.

Yet… why had Kaito given him this gem? He didn't really steal much anymore. Didn't have any reason to. So, for him to go so far out of his way to steal a jewel and then give it to Shinichi… there had to be something behind it. It most likely wasn't a joke, either. The ex-thief didn't really joke much anymore… unless he counted the few confetti "bombs" that got mixed into his usual plastic explosives. Or the stupid guns that shot out the "bang" flag. Okay, so maybe he still had his sense of humor. But he wouldn't go to _these_ lengths for a gag. Probably. And damn, he was getting a headache.

"Kudo-kun," Inspector Megure greeted, placing a hand on the detective's shoulder. His voice was soft and fatherly, drawing Shinichi from his thoughts. "Are you alright, Kudo-kun?" He probably knew Kaito wouldn't hurt the detective, but the thought was nice. At least _someone_ still cared about him.

"I-yeah. I'm fine," Shinichi murmured, eyes not quite meeting the old inspector's. It was his own fault all of this was happening. He should've turned Kaito in twenty years ago, before all of this started… before the magician got the damn idea to start killing everyone… And Shinichi was just as much to blame for all of this destruction as the madman he let roam free. Why was he such an idiot? Why did he ever believe Kaito would get better? Hindsight always was perfect…

"Kuroba didn't do anything to you, did he?" Megure asked, eyes scouring the detective for any sign of harm. It made Shinichi's heart ache. Sure, the inspector was known for being a father to his men, but ever since Shinichi's parents had been killed, Megure had been rather protective of him to the point of essentially becoming his second father.

Shinichi shook his head slowly. "No. I'm fine," he answered quietly. "Just tired… Had to run here." Thankfully his heart rate and breathing were finally under control again. For the briefest of moments, he considered letting Megure in on Kaito's plan, but decided against it, pocketing the gemstone instead. There was no way anyone would believe him.

The inspector nodded and patted the detective's shoulder. "You can stay at my place if you'd like. You of all people deserve a good night's sleep." His words were kind, and the offer was tempting. He'd be able to sleep and he wouldn't have to worry as much about catching up to Kaito so long as he was with someone with a working vehicle. But he'd also have to be near the one person he looked up to as a father… and that might tempt the madman to kill Megure. He couldn't risk that, even if he was low on money, sleep, and resolve. And there was still the mystery behind the gem he'd been given… Somehow it was supposed to stop Kaito from changing history…? "Kudo-kun?"

Blinking and looking back at the inspector, Shinichi shook his head. "Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll be okay on my own…" He had no idea if Kaito would target the inspector and no desire to find out anytime soon. Best not to risk anyone's life for the sake of convenience. The inspector gave him a look that clearly showed Megure didn't trust the detective's decision, but he didn't press the issue. He knew better by now. "Though, if you could drive me somewhere to sleep, I'd appreciate it."

"Of course, Kudo-kun," the inspector nodded, giving the building one last scan. The officers were shepherding civilians outside and the bomb squad were gathering to find and disarm the remaining explosives as was the norm. "There isn't anything left for us to do here." Megure walked Shinichi to his car and started to drive off. The old detective sighed and looked out the window, watching the outside world with blank eyes. Soon, all he could make out were blurred images and swaths of city lights as his mind slowly trailed off. Head feeling heavy, Shinichi rested it against the window. If Megure noticed, he didn't comment. Or maybe Shinichi just couldn't hear him. One of the two…

* * *

 _Walking the busy streets back home after a long day of cases wasn't exactly fun. Shinichi was always pretty worn out, usually more emotionally than physically, but that was to be expected. Another case, another death. Another death, another broken family. It was walks like this that made him wonder just how disconnected he'd made himself when he was a kid. But maybe it was just because it was never a personal loss back then. Just another corpse with a puzzle to solve. He almost wished he could go back to those days._

 _Still, at least the sun was still above the horizon. That was a plus. Usually when he'd get off his shifts, the moon would already be high in the sky. And speaking of the moon, he needed to call Ran and see if they needed to refill Kaito's prescriptions. He wasn't sure if the magician would really relapse without his medicine and he really didn't want to find out. The poor guy had been through enough, losing Aoko and the others like that… He didn't need the recurring nightmares to haunt him into insomnia._

 _The phone rang for a while before Ran's voicemail picked up. And wasn't that weird… "Oi Ran, it's Shinichi. Call me back." Maybe she wasn't near her phone at the moment. Kaito might pick up…_

 _"Hello?" Ran's voice asked after a few rings. Shinichi let out a breath of relief. She was just taking care of Kaito. No Black Organization members had gotten to her while he was working. Nothing to worry about. Though why she answered Kaito's phone and not her own, he wasn't sure._

 _"Are you home?" Shinichi asked. Upon getting an affirmative, he continued, "I tried calling your phone, but no one answered. Is something up?"_

 _There was a moment's hesitation. "I'm fine, Shinichi. Kaito's just being"—there was a sound in the background like a table breaking—"a little twitchy. You_ did _give him his pill this morning, right?" Why had she paused? Was something wrong? What had she meant by 'twitchy'?_

 _He thought he had. Had he? Damn. The problem with routines was even when he'd thought he'd done something, he might just be remembering any number of other times that he'd actually done it. "Uh, ask Kaito. I was in a rush this morning. Are you okay over there?" he asked, starting to walk faster toward home. He was starting to get a pretty bad feeling about this…_

 _There were more sounds of a struggle, prompting the young detective to start running. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. After a particularly nasty collision, Ran's voice spoke up again, "S-sorry Shinichi. Get home soon, okay?"_

 _"What's going on, Ran?" Shinichi asked, worry creeping into his tone as he dashed down the streets, finally seeing Kudo Manor in the distance. Soon, the young detective was at the gate, tearing through the yard, and finally inside. Ran hadn't answered him in all that time. Dear God, let her be okay._

 _The sound of creaking wood drew his attention to the staircase. Without further delay, the detective bolted up the stairs, only to meet Kaito sitting at the very top with his head half cupped by one of his hands. He looked a cross between amused and frustrated… however that worked. Judging by the unfocused eyes and the specks of blood on his clothes, he was the one getting tossed around during the phone call. Hopefully him sitting around didn't mean anything bad for Ran._

 _The magician didn't say anything. He just watched the detective's moves, tracing even the tiniest movement with his eyes. It was unnerving. Even so, if Shinichi had forgotten to medicate him, backing off wouldn't help the matter._ It's just Kaito, _the detective mentally chided. Meeting the magician's eyes and forcing a friendly smile, Shinichi cheerfully said, "Hello Kaito."_

 _Kaito blinked and shook his head, trying to regain his focus. "Shinichi?" he asked, as if he hadn't noticed the detective's presence until just now. "When'd you get home?" The smaller man lifted his head and ran a hand through his hair, looking dazed and confused. "And why are we on the stairs…?" It was strange, Kaito certainly wasn't acting like himself, and he wasn't acting like he had any idea he was even awake minutes ago, either._

 _"You were sitting here when I came home," Shinichi clarified, much to the magician's confusion. The more he watched, the more he noticed how exhausted Kaito was. That wasn't normal either. Sure, he hadn't been the ball of energy Shinichi had been used to—tragedy did that to people—but he'd never been_ this _tired before. Could he even move on his own?_

 _"I was here…? Doesn't make sense… Ran was talking with my counselor just a couple of minutes ago…" Kaito gave a large yawn and continued, "And then I fell asleep at the table… And now I'm here and you're home?"_

 _"So you don't remember anything strange, Kaito?" Shinichi tried, hoping to get any kind of useful information. Was this some effect from missing his pills?_

 _The magician shook his head slowly. "Not really… Just fell asleep and woke up here… So tired… Lemme sleep…" he closed his eyes and was asleep within the minute. Shinichi sighed and managed to pick him up and get his sleeping friend over to his bedroom. They were going to have to get him reassessed, most likely. As seemed to be the theme today, something was wrong with him. Crap. Ran!_

 _Checking his phone, he found the call was still in-place. "Ran? Ran, are you okay? I'm home, where are you?"_

 _Silence was his answer. He ran from room to room, searching the house for signs of her, until he reached the kitchen and found the room in shambles. Shattered glassware lined the floor near the table and counter, the table was broken in half (Ran's doing?), and finally, his eyes were drawn to a body on the ground. Kaede-sensei. Kneeling, he checked her pulse and found she was still alive, albeit barely. Grabbing his second phone, he called an ambulance and did what he could to slow the bleeding._

 _"Shinichi…?" Ran's voice asked from the kitchen doorway. Her voice was timid and quiet, almost as if she didn't really want him to hear it._

 _"It's me, Ran," he answered softly, dropping the phone he'd called her with, eyes still on Kaede. "Kaito's asleep in his room." There was an audible sigh of relief and soon Ran was by his side. "She'll make it. I already called an ambulance." Whatever happened here had managed to shake Ran up badly. That wasn't a pleasant thought, but at least no one had died. At least the trend Kaito's presence had brought to their lives was consistent._

 _"Shinichi," she started, lightly gripping the fabric of his shirt. "I don't think we should keep Kaito-san here anymore."_

 _The detective furrowed his brow a bit. Kaito wouldn't do something like this. He wasn't some killer. And he also had no reason to attack his psychiatrist or Ran. Neither were unkind to him in the least. "You can't sit here and tell me_ Kaito _of all people did this, can you?" he asked incredulously. "He hasn't done much other than haunt the library and his room for the past month. Hell, it's even been a struggle to get him to eat, you know that."_

 _The look in her eyes told him she meant what she'd said. "Shinichi, we did our best. We can't just keep him here… He needs more help than we can give him." That was the clincher. Assuming Kaito was the one that did all of this—which seemed a fair assumption, given Ran's concern—then he really was worse off than they'd thought. If one day off his medicine made him violent enough to scare Ran and almost kill someone, maybe Ran was right. Maybe they weren't able to take proper care of him._

 _Shinichi caught the slightest glimpse of the magician leaving the doorway. Had he been eavesdropping? The sound of the ambulance drew near and when the men arrived, Kaito quietly led them to the kitchen. They took Kaede with them and promised to update them on her condition. The detective nodded and soon everything was quiet again._

 _"Kaito," Shinichi started sternly, carefully watching the smaller man. "What did you do?"_

 _Kaito shrank back and bit his lip. "I'm sorry."_

 _"Kaito."_

 _"I-I didn't mean to."_

 _"_ Kaito!"

 _"I-please…! I didn't mean it! I don't know what happened! D-don't kick me out! I'll be good, I'll be good!" If Shinichi thought the magician's earlier drowsiness was weird, he took that back._ This _was weird. The smaller man sat down, holding his knees close to his chest and keeping his head low. He looked like a kicked dog._

 _"Ran…" Shinichi started, glancing back to his fiancé. "We can't just turn him out on the streets, you know that…" It was a weak excuse, really it was, but Kaito was one of his close friends. He was the goofball magician of the group and he played a large role in stopping the Black Organization at enormous personal cost. He needed to be around friends, not tossed to the street or locked up somewhere. He'd clean up and count this as a mistake. There was no way it would happen again. He'd just remember to give Kaito his medicine and everything would be fixed._

 _Ran didn't buy it for a moment, but sighed. "Kaito-san," she said, avoiding the magician's eyes. "You_ have _to let someone know when you haven't had your medicine."_

 _"Yes Ran-san," he murmured between his knees. "Is… is Kaede-sensei going to be okay?" he asked a bit timidly._

 _"She should be," Shinichi answered calmly, walking over to Kaito. "But why did you think that was a good thing to do, Kaito?"_

 _"I don't know," he answered, demoralized. "I-I heard a voice… It wouldn't leave me alone… I couldn't drown it out… Help…"_

* * *

"Kudo-kun," Megure's voice drew him out of his memory. Soon the man's hand was lightly shaking his shoulder in an attempt to rouse him.

The old detective yawned, climbing out of the car and sleepily following his senior officer into the small building that looked a lot like a house. But he was exhausted, and where he slept didn't really matter much at the moment. Leave it to Kaito to run him ragged… hopefully his once-friend would show a bit of mercy and _not_ place any threats for a few days. He needed a good day-or-so of rest if he was going to continue this race against mass death.

Megure guided him into a small room with a lamp and a bed. The lamp wasn't really necessary, but appreciated. Sometimes a light was needed to chase away the spell of a nightmare and it was always nice to have a source of it on-hand. He mumbled something along the lines of "thank you" to the inspector and walked just far enough to collapse on the bed. He guessed Megure turned off the light and closed the door, but didn't really register much until an opened eye showed the room was dark. The man was a saint in a war-weary world, that much was for sure.

Shinichi wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep, but when he was knocked out of sleep's blissful embrace it was still dark outside. He was still drowsy, but the urge to piss was stronger. With a slight groan, he forced himself out of bed and onto his feet. Maybe Ran had been right about his sleeping habits after all… He slightly winced at the thought. Even though many years had passed, that particular wound would always be raw.

Shinichi turned the lamp on and looked around his room, though, there didn't seem to be any other doors leading anywhere. Damn, he didn't ask earlier, either. Well then, he'd just have to hold it until he found the washroom.

He left his room and quietly checked the various rooms in the hallway. The first one he'd checked seemed to have a couple sleeping in it. Not wanting to disturb them, he closed the door and moved onto the next nearest room. It looked like a closet of some kind, if the broom that fell over and bashed his skull was anything to go by. Slightly rubbing his head and replacing the broom, Shinichi closed the door. Hadn't there been a time when Aoko had mistaken him for Kaito? She'd knocked him a good one back then, much to the magician's amusement. Too bad she wasn't around to beat some sense into him now.

The last door in the hallway was the correct room, thankfully. He flipped the light on, closed the door behind him, and relieved himself. When he turned back and washed his hands, he finally looked up at the mirror in shock. "You knew better" was written in the mirror in what was most likely blood. Whose house was he in? Damn it!

Without thinking, he fled the washroom and searched the room where the couple had been sleeping. He flipped on the light and stared. Megure and Midori had both been impaled through their throats by metal rods. He grit his teeth, balled his fists, and walked over to the crime scene. It was worse up close. They both had marks all over them: smaller around the arms and legs and rather large gouge-marks near the head and chest. They'd struggled and were probably killed slowly. The thought made him shiver. Megure was gone. His last tie to sanity in this hell he called life had been erased. Everyone was dead. Everyone was gone now. He was completely alone. The thought was like an icy claw ripping his heart out.

Shinichi quietly pulled his phone out and called the police, letting them know about the situation before hanging up. Kaito was long-gone by now. The two had been dead at least a few hours already. There wasn't anything he could do to help them. _Kaito…!_

That settled it. Whatever the hell kind of game he was playing, Shinichi would end it. He'd find the smallest impenetrable cage for that animal and throw away the key! If that bastard wanted to take _everything_ away from him, then he'd strike back with interest! He couldn't be sure where Kaito was at the moment, but he knew where he'd be. Shinichi pulled out the small green gem the ex-thief gave him and tightened his grip on it. Even if it meant heading him off in the past, he would do it. There was nothing more he could lose… and nothing was more dangerous than a man in such a position. He'd make Kaito see that.

Knowing he still had a few minutes before the police showed up, Shinichi moved around the room, looking for Megure's gun and ammunition. It wasn't like he was dumb enough to think the bullets would actually kill Kaito—immortal was immortal after all—but if he could injure or enrage him enough to slip up, that could give him quite a good chance of catching him. Especially if he aimed for the head. He'd just have to be careful about everyone's past selves. If Kaito went on a rampage and killed off everyone, that would only make things worse.

A grim smile made its way to his face as he pocketed the items. All of this suffering would end soon. All of those innocent people could be saved and he could have what remained of his life back. He should've listened to Ran all those years ago. He should've locked the bastard away and let him rot. But, even if it was late, at least that madman would finally get what he justly deserved.

 _Enjoy your freedom, Kaito,_ Shinichi thought, walking outside and turning his gaze to the full moon. _You won't have it much longer. I_ will _make you pay for all that you've done._ _Even if I have to rend time to do so._

* * *

 _Thus began Shinichi's mission..._


	2. Back to Start

_Well well, welcome back for more. I'm not quite sure how, but this one has a bit of popularity, it seems. So thanks everyone for all the views, reviews, favorites, and follows. I really do appreciate it._

 _Ah... I sincerely apologize for giving no warnings whatsoever on the last chapter's deaths. I... kind of forgot to mention that. This chapter has about a paragraph of potentially suicidal thoughts right before the first linebreak and another (less detailed than the first chapter) death right before the second linebreak. I'm so sorry for not mentioning the warning on the first chapter..._

 _Also! I'm probably going to be on a brief hiatus for this story and_ Breaking Point _soon. I always get pretty sick in summer, and this year is no exception. I imagine I'll be back to both stories by next month at the latest._

* * *

The officers arrived quickly, photographing the scene and taking care of all of the odds and ins around the crime scene. A couple of the senior officers came to question Shinichi, though he didn't have much to say that they didn't already assume. Yes, it was Kaito. No, he wasn't awake during the murders. No, he wasn't aware that Kaito had followed him to Megure's home. Yes, he was upset. Yes, he was going to capture Kaito. No, he didn't tamper with the crime scene (a blatant lie, but he didn't want to bog their minds with meaningless details).

Once he was given permission to roam again, Shinichi moved back outside. The sun was starting to rise on the dark night; a new day was upon them. In the end, he hadn't really gotten the sleep he'd been after, but hopefully it would be enough. He had to be ready to find and capture Kaito. Sleep wasn't an option. Not when he knew where—or rather, _when_ —the madman would be. All the embittered detective would have to do is cut him off from whatever insanity he planned to wreak upon the past and find a way to drag him back to the present. After that, keeping him suppressed wouldn't be so bad. Kaito was always physically smaller and weaker than Shinichi, after all. Crafty with illusions and much faster, yes, but if he couldn't run and couldn't magic his way out of a situation, he was as good as caught. And if he resisted, Shinichi could always shoot him in the head. It would likely get Kaito to quiet down, not from fear of death, but from his hatred of pain. And that was good enough for the old detective.

Shinichi stuck his hands in his pockets and started his walk down the streets, past the darkened homes with sleeping families carefully sheltered inside. The thought brought a twinge of pain and rage to his heart. He could've had all of that, had he listened to Ran… But he hadn't, and now he didn't. All that was left of his miserable existence was his mission to permanently capture Kaito. After that… well, he didn't want to think about that.

As the sun rose higher, the old detective found the warehouse he'd once used during the struggle against the Black Organization. It had been a pretty convenient location back in its day, but, as all things in this God-forsaken age, had fallen into heavy disrepair. The warehouse had plenty of structural scars, shattered windows, and broken doors, but it still stood. There were still tools inside that the group had used, ranging from Kaito's old card gun to grappling hooks and even miscellaneous items the lot of them had grown accustomed to. Everything they'd used for espionage and assault and all the memories they'd left behind. He wasn't entirely sure why they'd never cleared this place out after the struggle was over, but maybe it was because of how much of a pain it was to even get to their storage. Regardless of reason, however, it would be a good place to stock up before chasing his once-friend through time… assuming it was possible, of course.

A rather large raven flapped down to a nearby windowsill, its red eyes staring intently enough at Shinichi to send a chill down his spine. "What are you looking at?" he questioned his dark-feathered observer. The bird continued to watch him silently, almost judgmentally. Hadn't it been Akako who once mentioned that ravens were companions of the gods? If so, what could it possibly want with him? The detective shook his head. "You're losing it, Kudo," he murmured, rubbing his temples before continuing into the warehouse. Even if most things had reasons, it was just a bird, not some heavenly spirit.

Much to his chagrin, the raven turned around and hopped through the broken glass, perching on the inner side of the windowsill. He felt the chills again when his eyes met the bird's. Stupid though the thought was, the raven's gaze felt almost murderous. Almost human. Ugh, he'd better find what he needed as quickly as possible and leave… That bird was seriously creeping him out…

Doing his ample best to remind himself that it was a bird of maybe less than two feet tall and _not_ a Black Organization renegade, Shinichi walked through the entry room and through a hallway until he found the second door to his left. Lucky him, the door had been knocked off its hinges and onto the ground, and, almost too predictably, the raven followed him into the room, landing on a nearby table (well, half of a table). "Go away," he grumbled, trying to shoo it with little success. The vindictive bastard of a bird decided to play it smart and just hop away from his hand rather than take flight. "I hate you."

The raven looked amused, letting out a caw that almost sounded like a laugh. "It's not worth it to shoot the bird, Kudo. It's _just_ a bird. It'll leave you alone soon enough." Was it sad that he had been seriously contemplating shooting the feathered rat? Well, maybe. But in his defense, it wouldn't leave him alone no matter what he did. It kind of deserved it… No. No, he was _not_ going to shoot it.

"I'm not dealing with _you_ much longer," Shinichi jeered, pocketing another gun from the table and collecting the nearby ammunition. After that he snatched a few older photographs and a small bag. If he wanted to be properly prepared for a clash with Kaito, he'd need as much as he could carry and his pockets probably wouldn't make the cut. He quickly placed everything in the bag and strapped it over a shoulder before moving to the center of the room and pulling up a large concrete block from the floor. Damn, it was heavy. If he remembered right, it usually took two or three of the group just to move it around back in the day… There was even a time when he and Kaito had just lifted the stupid block in time for Hattori to knock them both down the hole (by accident, the western detective had claimed). Needless to say, Hattori ended up taking pictures of the awkward position he and the magician had landed in. It was a pain in the ass, but necessary for its time.

Grunting from strain, the old detective finally managed to move the block of concrete flooring and pushed it next to the hole. He took a moment to breathe and rest his arms before climbing down the hidden ladder. It was quite the climb down, maybe even longer than he'd remembered, and the temperature noticeably dropped during his descent. Whatever light had existed in the abandoned warehouse faded into oblivion the farther down he climbed, leaving nothing but pitch black darkness beneath him and the small speck of light above him. One never could have enough precautions when the Black Organization was involved, after all.

Finally reaching the floor, Shinichi walked blindly forward until his hand brushed against the cool stone wall. It was yet another hoop they'd had to go through to get to their regular meeting-slash-storage place. Raising a hand up above his head, the detective carefully let his fingers trail the top of the wall until they hit a small switch, triggering the door to open. Oh, muscle memory was a truly wonderful thing. If he remembered right, the Kurobas had rigged this particular area to lock with some photosensitive equipment, making it impossible to continue on past here when there was light in the room.

The sound of beating wings caught the detective's attention. Oh great, _that_ thing was still following him around. Letting out a slight growl of irritation, Shinichi walked into the room and found the light. Clicking it on, his eyes wandered the room, looking over the various items scattered around in nostalgia. Oh, what he would give to go back to those times…

But the past was the past. There wasn't—shouldn't—be a way to change it… and yet _somehow_ Kaito had managed to find it. He moved to the center table and sat down in his old seat, burying his head in his hands. Why did everything in his life always lead to heartbreak and betrayal? Why him? He was a good person… he followed the rules and laws of society and did his best to help people… so why did _he_ have to suffer Ran's death and Kaito's insanity? Why couldn't he do _anything_ without it biting him in the ass?!

Without thinking, he pulled Megure's gun and aimed it at the side of his head. His finger lingered on the trigger, but no matter how much he willed himself, he couldn't manage to actually pull it. Several minutes passed like this until Shinichi caught his own reflection in one of the room's mirrors. God, he looked pathetic. His eyes were tired and slightly red with unshed tears and pent up rage. His clothes were hopelessly wrinkled and his hair was starting to look more like Kaito's. If all else failed, he prayed to any deity that would take pity on him _not_ to turn into a second Kaito. The world couldn't handle the one that it had, and he didn't want any more bloodshed. He was too tired of it all and somehow still unable to offer himself the rest he craved.

The raven gave a caw, one that sounded like disapproval… assuming, of course, that Shinichi could understand it at all. Then again, he might just be projecting his own feelings of self-loathing onto the stupid bird. Only the gods knew.

"I know _you_ don't care," he started, mumbling his reply to the raven, "but I _have_ to fix things. I can't just give up and let Kaito have his way…" The bird's red eyes gleamed with malevolence and it took a few steps closer to the weary detective. " _You_ followed _me_ here, Bird," Shinichi glared, swiping at it with a hand and making it hop back toward the far edge of the table. Frankly, he didn't care that it didn't seem to like him. It was a living, breathing creature that decided to follow him around. If it didn't want him to talk to it, then it should've left. Clearly, it wanted something from him and he didn't plan on playing charades with a _bird_ to find out what. Screw the gods; he had his own mission to accomplish.

Irked enough to finally do something, Shinichi stood up and made his way over to the lockers in the back of the room. Opening each of them, the detective stocked up on gear, placing what would fit into his bag. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the raven looked absolutely outraged. Oh, the emotions he wasn't sure birds could actually have. He _really_ needed to sleep…

Well, checking his watch, he saw that it was currently about seven in the morning. It really wouldn't hurt to set a cell phone alarm and sleep until eleven, right? He already had everything he'd need and he was in a safe, abandoned area. If ever there _was_ a good time to sleep, now would probably be it, given he wasn't exactly sure how long it would take to find and then apprehend the immortal. He also couldn't say he knew how or if time would continue to move in the present while he was in the past… It was all so mind-boggling. So far beyond rational thought or even the bounds of imagination.

He offered the raven an amused look and quickly went into an adjacent room, slamming the door shut before it could make it through the doorway and locking it for good measure. There were a few beds in the room that Kaito and Hattori had somehow gotten all the way down here. He and Hakuba had tried not to stress themselves over their methods and, instead, opted to just be grateful. And grateful he was, now especially. The beds were dusty, but at least it would be possible to sleep…

* * *

 _It had been over a month since Kaito's 'incident,' and everything had returned to normal. Shinichi and Ran had taken extra caution to ensure that their magician took his medicine and, thankfully, Kaito had resumed haunting Kudo Manor. There was no further improvement, though there never was. Both Kaede-sensei and Tsubaki-sensei seemed to agree that the magician was suffering from a broken heart. Tsubaki, after hearing from Kaito and Ran about what happened to Kaede, told Shinichi in confidence that the magician seemed to be suffering from schizophrenia and prescribed an antipsychotic to help keep his charge calm. From what he'd seen so far, it seemed to be working._

 _Though his days off were always sporadic, Shinichi had promised to take his fiancé and magician out for the day (mostly because leaving Kaito alone was asking for trouble), and, somewhere along their day-trip, they ran into the newly married Hattori couple, who quickly joined them. It was a lot of fun, if Shinichi was honest with himself. Hell, even Kaito seemed to be more cheerful once they'd coaxed him outside. The fresh air and the warm sunlight might've just been what the magician needed to really pull himself together. At the very least, it didn't seem to cause any trouble._

 _The group had taken time out for lunch, grabbing something quick and eating at a table outside. Ran and Kazuha chattered away about this and that, though Shinichi quickly fell into conversation with Hattori about recent cases and stopped giving them much mind. Kaito seemed content with quietly nibbling on his sandwich, but Shinichi was aware of his charge's eyes watching the lot of them. Eh, neither conversation was likely his cup of tea. No concerns there._

 _"Oh man, Kudo," Hattori chuckled, "ya woulda loved that case! The culprit almost had me with the fake possession bullcrap, but there's always a trick ta everything. Turned out ta be a noise-based hypnosis, but damn."_

 _Shinichi chuckled in response. It was always the clever nutcases that tried to imitate the supernatural to get away with a crime. He had to admit, they were incredibly crafty, but there was always some small clue that'd get them nailed. There were only two supernatural things in the world that had been proven true to him. One was Pandora and immortality (poor Kaito…), and the second was the existence of real magic, courtesy of Akako. But things like monsters didn't exist and actual magic users were a rare and dying breed... and Pandora was gone, so there wasn't much need to worry over the supernatural on cases. Nothing had changed there._

 _"It's real," Kaito's quiet whisper replied. Any happiness that had reached the magician seemed to vanish with the wind, leaving his eyes lifeless once more._

 _"What's real, Kaito?" Shinichi inquired, confused. It was hard to judge how much attention his charge was giving to either conversation._

 _"Ya can't be sayin' crap like possession's real, can ya?" Hattori asked, incredulous. Sure, he'd borne witness to Akako's magic and all that, but even she admitted there were boundaries that even a witch couldn't cross… true possession was one of those, apparently._

 _"It's real," Kaito once more said, just as quiet as before. "I know… It keeps almost happening to me…"_

 _Hattori shot Shinichi a look that begged "what the hell is he on." The eastern detective slightly shrugged his shoulders and gave an awkward smile. To be fair, Kaito was still sick…_

 _Actions not missed by the magician, Kaito gave a discouraged look and resumed picking at his food, apparently losing interest in the conversation. At least he could still read the mood... though, judging from his tone and reaction, he at least_ thought _something was trying to possess him. But why think this all of the sudden? Was it something to do with the schizophrenia?_

 _"Hey Kaito," Shinichi started, keeping his voice calm and kind. "Do you remember if we gave you your medicine this morning?" The last time the magician had acted somewhat similar to this had been that month-or-so ago when he'd flipped out and attacked his psychiatrist…_

 _Finishing off his sandwich, Kaito murmured, "I don't think it's working…"_

 _Please, dear gods, no. That'd mean he'd have to get reassessed, get a new prescription, and go through even more stress before things got better again. Neither of them needed that to worry about. Even so, best to find out what was wrong sooner than later... The near-death of Kaede-sensei had been lesson enough for them. "Why's that, Kaito?"_

 _"I started hearing that voice again… It's telling me to do things again…" That was Kaito's chilling reply. Yes, Shinichi was definitely going to have his charge reassessed. Last time the voice had frightened him into attacking his harmless psychiatrist. Here and now, they happened to be a fair distance from Kudo Manor and there were far too many people around. It just wasn't safe. Even so… he seemed calm enough at the moment… No, they needed to head back before something bad happened._

 _"Er, what exactly is it telling you to do?" Shinichi could tell Hattori hadn't expected Kaito to be like this. He hoped the western detective would just go along with things and not try to exacerbate the situation by arguing. The girls hadn't seemed to notice yet, still catching up on their own lives._

 _The magician remained quiet, managing to look even more downcast. "Never mind…"_

 _Letting out a sigh, the eastern detective adopted a sterner tone and said, "Kaito, what is it telling you to do?" He needed to know, even if his charge didn't want him to. If he didn't know, then Kaito could possibly get into trouble and things would only go from bad to worse._

 _With a slight sigh of his own, Kaito mumbled, "The voice wants me to kill Hattori right now." The western detective shot Shinichi a look of incredulous shock. "But that's stupid. I would never hurt Tantei-han." Well that was a step in the right direction. So he_ was _getting worse, but he was able to manage at the moment. Still, now things were getting awkward, and apparently the girls had overheard that last part as well. And why had he referred to Hattori two different ways in about as many sentences?_

 _"That's good," Hattori said good-naturedly. "I'd hate ta have ta go toe-ta-toe with ya, Kuroba." Kaito nodded in acknowledgement and moved his attention to his drink, apparently done talking for now. "Kudo and I are gonna check somethin' out real quick. Be back soon." The western detective quickly grabbed Shinichi's arm and dragged him off and out of earshot. "Kudo, what the_ hell _was that?!"_

 _"Hattori, I can explain," Shinichi held his hands up defensively._

 _"Really? 'Cuz I don't think ya can."_

 _"Hattori! He's just sick right now. He'll get better!"_

 _"And_ what _did ya say ta me a while ago?" Hattori countered, glaring. "Kudo, I know ya don't want ta hear it, but ya_ can't _keep Kuroba. He needs more than ya can offer."_

 _"I don't want to hear it. He's getting better."_

 _"Did ya_ hear _what he said back there?! He's_ not _gettin' better, Kudo! He's just gettin' used ta it!"_

 _"Well what do you expect me to do?!" Shinichi snapped, glaring daggers at his western counterpart. "I_ can't _abandon Kaito! Not after all he's given up for us."_

 _"Yer treatin' him like a pet, Kudo. He needs someone that can take care of him and treat him like a human. If that means lettin' him go for a couple of months or years, then it's worth it." Hattori was deadly calm, green eyes meeting Shinichi's frustrated blue ones. "If ya value his effort—and I know ya do—then ya gotta let him go. Give him the chance ta get better." After that, Hattori walked back to the table, leaving Shinichi alone to think._

 _Damn that Hattori. He just didn't understand what was going on. Kaito just needed his prescription upped and he'd get better. And there was no way in hell he was treating Kaito like a pet! The gall of that guy! What was he supposed to do, just sit by and let the magician mutilate (or attempt to) himself? He was sick and needed the attention. He wouldn't eat unless forced on most days and wouldn't take care of himself at all without urging. It wasn't treating him like a pet to take care of him in this situation. Kaito would get better… he had to…_

 _Grumbling to himself under his breath, Shinichi headed back to the table to find Ran and Kazuha fussing over Kaito, and Hattori hovering over the magician's shoulder. What happened? As he got closer to the group, Hattori looked up at him and shot him an unimpressed look. Finally beside the western detective, Shinichi looked over Kaito's shoulder and found that the magician had stabbed a knife into his own hand. It looked like he was trying to push it all the way through…_

 _"Kaito-san, please let go of the knife," Ran pleaded, lightly touching the magician's arm. "Let us take that out of your hand…"_

 _"Go away…_ Go away! _" Kaito howled, drawing the attention of several passers-by. Great, just great. Small red sparks of Pandora's influence worked their way across his injured hand, trying to seal and heal the wound without success. The sparks continued working, but Kaito firmly held the knife in place, preventing them from ever fully healing his injury._

 _"Enough Kaito," Shinichi said, grabbing the hand wielding the blade and forcing it up. The sparks took the opportunity to somehow nudge the blade from the magician's hand and allow it to fall onto the tabletop with a soft_ clang _. The eastern detective still wasn't sure how Pandora's influence worked, but if it prevented Kaito from leaving sharp objects in his body, it was good enough for his liking. "You're okay. Nothing's wrong. It's alright."_

 _"No it's not…" the magician whimpered morosely. "It needs to go…_ I _need to go… I don't want to hurt anyone again…"_

 _"And you won't," the eastern detective assured, cleaning the knife off with a few of their napkins. Kneeling down so that he could meet Kaito at eye-level, Shinichi continued, "Just look at my eyes, okay? Everything will be fine. We can go home so you don't have to worry." Shinichi's charge quietly watched him with desperate, trusting eyes and nodded. Home would be best. They wouldn't have to worry about bystanders overreacting to Kaito's actions. Hell, he somewhat wanted to leave Hattori behind because even_ he _seemed to be overreacting. You'd think a detective with as many cases under his belt as Hattori would know to be calm…_

 _Shinichi and Ran helped Kaito up and carefully led him away. Hattori and Kazuha followed quietly after tossing the napkins away and assuring the passers-by that everything was fine. Thankfully, Kaito held a quiet composure and managed to get to the train station, though, by the time they'd gotten their tickets and started waiting on the train to arrive, he'd buried his face in Shinichi's shirt, mouthing some phrase repeatedly. He felt so bad for the magician… and he_ knew _that he was the cause of Kaito's suffering… Damn himself for ever using Pandora… Damn himself for ever passing that role in the mission to Akio…!_

 _The sound of the incoming train quickly captured his attention. Kaito was still attached to him and Hattori, Kazuha, and Ran were relatively nearby, if not a bit close to the line. Out of reflex, Shinichi lightly grabbed Ran's arm and brought her closer to him. There were far too many times when a simple bump from a stranger could endanger a life, and he currently had Kaito preventing him from moving fast enough, should something happen._

 _Maybe he shouldn't have remembered those cases. It happened far too quickly for him to even react. Kazuha fell over the edge of the platform. Hattori went after her, much like Shinichi had when such a scenario happened to Ran all those years ago. Gods, how he wished Hattori would've had his luck… The train didn't stop in time._

 _"_ HATTORI!" _Shinichi screamed, shaking Kaito off him and dashing to the edge of the platform, barking orders to the conductors and nearby citizens. Whoever the_ hell _was responsible for this was going to suffer…!_

* * *

Shinichi woke with a scream, heart pounding in his ears. He was covered in sweat, and when he shakily rubbed at his face, he'd found that he'd been crying in his sleep. Hattori… He missed the western detective so much… Dispiritedly glancing at his watch, the old detective found that he'd overslept. It was about ten minutes until noon. Time to get himself together.

He rubbed at his face again, trying to both rouse himself and wipe away the remnants of his tears. If there was one thing he agreed with Kaito about, it was that something had to change. He couldn't go on living this hell, but he couldn't bring himself to end it all either. He was stuck in limbo, left to rot away in his agony and loss… and he couldn't bear that pain anymore.

He wasn't sure how he was going to change things, once he was back in the past, but he knew that he couldn't just leave history be, either. Otherwise nothing would change. Everyone would still be dead. He'd still be alone… and he refused to suffer that again. Even if he could only save one of them, he would without hesitation.

Pulling out the small gem he'd been given, Shinichi stared. It was like the story of Pandora all over again. A supposedly magic gemstone that could (and _would_ ) change lives. Only this time, it would be used properly. This time, he was wary and prepared. Yes, this time things would be different.

As the noontime hour finally came upon him, Shinichi's eyes slightly widened. The gem had started glowing in his hand. He wasn't sure what to expect, but braced himself for whatever would come. "Wherever Kaito's going, I need to be there to stop him…!" The glow grew stronger, blinding even, forcing Shinichi to shut his eyes and tighten his grip on the magic jewel. A slight shock went through his body, starting from his fisted hand and working its way to his heart and head. _Wh-what is this…?_ His consciousness was slipping quickly and his body felt like lead, though he had just woken up. His legs buckled from under him and he collapsed to the floor. Had Kaito been wrong…? _Am I going to die…?_ That was his final thought before he lost consciousness.

"Oi…" a voice called through the blackness. "Oi… out of it… snap out of it… Wake up…" Whoever was calling to him was persistent, he'd give them that… but the darkness didn't fade away. A rough hand started shaking him, and the voice got louder and more insistent.

"…Ugh… urf…" Why was his mouth so dry? Was he in hell? There was light seeping into his vision… so blinding. It was almost painful to look at. Heaven?

"Oi, are you okay?" the voice asked, sounding relieved that Shinichi had started to wake.

"…Ngh…" His vision finally came back to him and he saw that the person trying to rouse him. "K- _Kaito_ …?!" Instinctively, the old detective flinched back from his position on the ground, bracing himself for an attack, though none came.

Kaito looked perplexed, quirking an eyebrow. "You know me?" he asked, offering a hand to Shinichi.

"It-it's fine… I can… can get up by myself. J-jackass… What _was_ that?" The older detective forced himself back to his feet, slowly but surely. Kaito didn't make a move, but his expression clearly stated that he had no idea what Shinichi was saying. Looking more carefully, the old detective was startled to see that Kaito's eyes were indigo rather than crimson. Was it true, then? Was this… the past?

"Look," Past Kaito said, slightly frowning, "I think you should probably take some time out to rest. You were passed out in the street when I walked by. As for what 'that' was," he shrugged, "I don't know. I've never seen your face around here." And that was the clincher. He really _was_ in the past… talking to Kaito's past self. It was mind-blowing in every way possible.

"Sorry," Shinichi said, slightly worried. At least Past Kaito didn't seem to recognize him, which was good. All the better if no one knew it was him changing things… "I thought you were someone else…" It _was_ true, but also a lie. He _did_ assume this Kaito was from his own time, but both _were_ the same person… He hoped Past Kaito would just accept it and move on.

The indigo-eyed magician sighed. "Well, whatever works for you, I guess. Just take care of yourself." Past Kaito shook his head and turned, ready to walk over to a group of others. Holy hell, there was Past Shinichi. He really needed to get away before someone (namely himself) figured out who he was.

"Uh… thanks," Shinichi said lamely, walking away before Past Shinichi could get too close. When he made it to a nearby alley, he broke out into a full sprint, trying to get as much distance as possible between himself and them. Well, now he was in the past… that much was evident. Now he just needed to find out where _his_ Kaito was…

* * *

 _Well, time for the confusion to really begin, eh?_


	3. A New Name, A New Game

_And I'm back with more! Thanks for your patience with this one. Life likes to get in the way of my madness from time to time._

 ** _IMPORTANT: I will NEVER write from future!Kaito (Doc) or past!Shinichi's POVs. When I do switch POVs, expect it to be in either past!Kaito or future!Shinichi (Ren)'s POV. If you don't heed my warning now, the story will get confusing FAST._**

 _Ahem, now that that's out of the way... Thanks for the views, reviews, favorites, and alerts guys! I may not say much, but they do make me more motivated to write and I really do appreciate what you've got to say._

 _Warnings: Language and some minor violence. Much easier to stomach than the other chapters, most likely._

* * *

Something was off, Kaito decided as the stranger started off (only to run once he'd reached the shadows, interestingly enough). That man clearly knew him somehow. Granted, there were others with similar faces and appearances to the magician, but even then, to have the exact name and face in tandem… the odds weren't really in favor of that.

Another thing that bothered him was how quickly the man had fled, especially once he'd noticed Shinichi's gaze moving over to him. So this man, this complete stranger (to Kaito, anyway) had some kind of history with someone that looked like Kaito and even had the same name… and clearly it was a hostile history, at least if that outburst was anything to go by. Something happened, something big, and something that man didn't quite understand. It definitely had his interest, the idea of a doppelganger Kaito with ill intent. A slight shiver made its way down his spine; hopefully it wasn't another robot. The first one was bad enough.

The final thing that had caught the young magician's attention was that this stranger looked like he was related to Shinichi in some way or another. More specifically, it looked like he was an older Shinichi. He had the same appearance, albeit worn down from age and time, likely stress as well. Still, despite the slightly grayed hair, somewhat gaunt appearance, and the almost dead look in his eyes, the man still didn't differ all that much from the eastern detective. Even his voice sounded similar, if not the same. He was sketchy, that much was for sure. And he had certainly caught Kaito's attention.

He must've been staring for a while, because soon Shinichi was slightly prodding his shoulder and asking, "Is something wrong?" Right, they'd been returning from a collection mission.

Meh, they didn't need his help to get a few measly documents back to the base. They were already close enough and he was confident enough that they'd shaken any tails a while ago. "Hey guys," the magician said cheerfully, "You go on ahead. There's something I wanted to discuss with Shinichi." Said eastern detective shot him a questioning look, but didn't speak out against the idea. No one else seemed to mind, well, beyond Hattori and Hakuba, of course.

"Just be careful, okay?" Aoko warned. "Keep an eye out."

Laughing, the magician said with a lopsided grin, "Aren't _I_ the one normally saying that to _you_? But yeah, it'll just take a few minutes. Nothing to worry about." The good thing about having Aoko around was that there was very little room to argue against her on the little things. Even if the other detectives had their issues with Kaito dragging Shinichi off somewhere, they probably wouldn't vocalize it for fear of retribution. It was a fantastic trait to have on _his_ side, for once.

Their group continued on their way back to base, leaving the magician and eastern detective to their privacy. "So," Shinichi started, watching Kaito. "Mind telling me what's so important? It has something to do with that man, I presume."

Kaito nodded. "He looked a little too much like you to be coincidence…"

Shinichi leveled him a _look_ that made it clear that he wasn't impressed. "Really Kaito? _You_ look too much like me, but it's still just a coincidence."

"Look," the magician sighed, letting a little disappointment show. "The odds of another doppelganger are low. We can agree on that, right?"

"But not impossible," the detective countered flatly.

"The odds of a doppelganger that knows me? When _I_ don't know _them?_ " he challenged.

"They _didn't_ know you."

"You realize if that guy _didn't_ know me, he made a really damn good guess, right? And that would imply that there's yet _another_ guy that looks pretty much like us. At some point you can't just say it's random chance."

"And if it's not? Then what?" Shinichi asked, hint of an amused smirk starting to form. "Let it go, Kaito. The guy ran off around the time we saw him. Is he strange? Yes. Is he involved with Them, probably not. Otherwise, they chose a really sucky spy, and _that_ doesn't seem likely."

"But, like you said, not impossible. At least check on him with me. We'll figure out if he was just acting suspicious or if he really _is_ suspicious that way." The detective gave a long-suffering sigh, but eventually nodded. Decision made, the magician led the way that the stranger had fled in. It really did help, having both a phantom thief and a detective track one person. It wasn't long before they were pressed against a wall in what they'd come to call the 'Blank District,' listening for signs of what their man was going to do.

A sudden shadow had appeared on a nearby wall, indicating movement, though the stranger was still in place. He was probably meeting whoever had just arrived. The newcomer's shadow began to shrink as they put some distance between themself and the stranger. The stranger, however, didn't move to follow. The two of them weren't all that close… this was probably some kind of business, sketchy as it seemed. The idea of a spy was starting to become less farfetched…

Deciding it would be best to get a glance at the meeting, Kaito edged himself to the corner and glanced over at the two figures. Yep, there were two of them. Neither was looking in his direction, thankfully. The stranger was watching the newcomer's back and the newcomer kept his (yeah, definitely male) head angled toward the sky. It was an interesting move, the magician thought. The position of the sun and the newcomer's position was just so that his body was mostly covered in shadow. It was a move he, himself, had done quite often under the moonlight while on heists. From what he could make of the man's silhouette, however, he had rather unkempt hair and he looked to be smaller than the stranger.

The stranger finally stepped forward with a deep frown and the same hostility in his voice that he'd used on Kaito earlier, "Looks like I found you, Kaito." The magician blinked. Shinichi slightly stiffened at his side. There it was again. It didn't make sense… but as the other Kaito turned and stepped toward the stranger, Kaito felt himself pale. He was right about the doppelgangers after all… The newcomer—that other Kaito—looked exactly like the magician… down to the last detail. He heard the eastern detective make a slight noise of confusion, though no one else had heard it. "How about we end this right here and right now? Save yourself some time and effort." The stranger's voice was calm now, but there was a razor-sharp edge to his tone. These two… with whatever history was between them, were dangerous. It'd be smart to stay out of their way.

The smaller man shrugged and stopped several paces in front of the stranger, watching him with bizarre crimson eyes (so there _was_ a difference…) and a dangerous grin in place. "Why would I do that, Shinichi?" The odds of _this_ being a coincidence just shot out the door and waved them goodbye. That was _his_ _name. His face. His voice._ There was no way anyone would be able to get _everything_ about him perfect while forgetting the eyes. It wasn't an impostor… Then _what_ was all of this…? "No, this is the time for revolution!" Kaito's doppelganger asserted, smile turning somewhat feral. "Time to right your wrongs! Time to fix everything. You won't hold me back!" the man ended his sentence with a snarl. This was getting disturbing, to say the least… and it got worse when the man looked straight in his and Shinichi's direction and laughed. "Come on out, friends. Don't you know it's rude to eavesdrop?!"

 _Shit!_ Kaito thought, forcing himself and Shinichi flat against the wall. _He noticed us…?!_

"What exactly do you hope to gain from this, Kaito?" the other Shinichi asked, surprisingly calm. The magician couldn't risk looking to see who the older man was addressing, but started quietly shifting away from the corner and back into the shadows. His every instinct was telling him to get out of here. "I've known you long enough. I know a distraction when I hear one." He… the other Shinichi didn't believe him? The two of them were on a first-name affiliation, or at least, that's what the magician's instincts were telling him… Something must've happened between those two at some point, which was probably the cause of the older man's hostility and distrust.

"Now now, Shinichi," the other Kaito chided. "They're our guests, right? Best to let them in on this too, wouldn't you say?"

"Maybe," the older Shinichi answered wryly. "But I'm also aware that you have many… _guests_ , should we call them, that you and you alone can see. They're your problem. You've been off your meds a little too long, don't you think?"

The younger Shinichi slightly nudged Kaito, taking his attention away from the conversation. "What should we do?" he mouthed. And then the harsh sound of a gunshot rang out, followed shortly after by a howl of pain. Kaito could see the moment Shinichi's eyes refocused on the situation and he flipped back into detective-mode. Shit, he was going to get them killed one of these days! With a slight groan, Kaito followed the eastern detective out from their hiding spot and readied his grip on his card gun and multiple smoke bombs.

If he'd thought the dialogue between the two men had been disturbing, he took it back. _This_ was disturbing. That sound had definitely been a gunshot. The older Shinichi still had the weapon in his hand, still aimed at the felled smaller man… who was not dead. Instead of blood, red-electric sparks ran over the other Kaito's face as he worked his way back to two feet. There was no sign of a wound after the sparks vanished. Was it too late to pretend this hadn't happened? The look he caught in his peripheral vision from the older Shinichi was answer enough. The man looked shocked, even took a step back in surprise. "You… you two?" the other Shinichi stammered, taking his eyes off the crimson-eyed Kaito in favor of Kaito and Shinichi. "Shit… no. H-how much did you hear?! Answer me!"

"You really shouldn't have _done that_ ," the now-healed Kaito lowly growled, crimson eyes now terrifyingly, inhumanly vicious. He looked like some kind of humanoid monstrosity. The magician felt the icy claw of fear work its way through him and he backed off several steps, dragging his Shinichi back with him. Distance… they needed distance. They needed away, now.

The older Shinichi's gaze moved rapidly between the two younger men and his enraged foe, seemingly weighing the pros and cons of something before running in front of the duo and grumbling, "I'm going to hate myself in the morning… You two, stay behind me. This guy's extremely dangerous. If you can, get out while I distract him. Just don't get caught. Understood?"

Finding his voice, the younger Shinichi asked with a concerned tone, "What the hell's going on here?!" Oh, Shinichi, Kaito thought, backing the two of them closer to the alley, now was _not_ the time to ask questions.

Ironically enough, the older Shinichi responded similarly. "Not right now." Raising his gun once more, he aimed for the crimson-eyed Kaito's head again. "This guy can't be killed. Don't think badly of me for using this kind of force. It's necessary to keep people alive." If that meant what Kaito thought it meant, then his crimson-eyed counterpart was a murderer… possibly a mass murderer given the older man's words.

Just as the older man's finger started to pull at the trigger, the other Kaito lunged. There was a flash of silver and the sound of another gunshot before the smaller man was once more laid out on the ground, swearing under his breath, and the larger one dropped to a knee with a pained grunt, some kind of metallic rod sticking out from his left shoulder. Blood somewhat streamed from the wound as the older Shinichi dropped his gun and let out a small cry of pain before he yanked out the obtrusion.

"Son of a _bitch_!" the other Kaito screeched, getting back to his feet. "That _fucking hurts!_ "

"The feeling's mutual," the wounded Shinichi grunted, dropping the pole in favor of his gun. "Just give up and the pain stops."

"Give up? And let us die a thousand more deaths? Never. I'll save us somehow…!" What did he mean by 'save us'? "If you think I'm here to kill young me or young you, you're wrong." Maybe it would've been best if someone _had_ answered Shinichi's question after all… Because, where Kaito was standing, it really felt like the crimson-eyed Kaito was claiming to want to 'save' the 'young him' and 'young Shinichi' and the implications of that were way too earth-shattering… too unbelievable… and yet the older Shinichi never corrected him or made anything up to take away from what had been said…

"Shut the hell up, Kaito!" the other Shinichi (future Shinichi?) roared, pointing the gun at the immortal's face once more. "I know you're just fucking with my head! This can't be real!"

Laughing, the crimson-eyed Kaito said, "You're free to believe me or not, Shinichi. But this _is_ the past. Our past. Those two behind you _are_ us. Now, you can either be a good little detective and try to figure out how to force us both back to our time, or you can fucking die for all I care! Everyone else is dead! Why shouldn't you be?! Go ahead and join everyone else! _Leave me to rot in fucking hell like everyone else!_ "

Kaito couldn't move. The information was petrifying, horrifying… couldn't be real… He'd never… he'd never become something like that! A psychotic monster…

"Idiot! Get out of here!" the older, possibly-future Shinichi snapped, keeping his eyes on the immortal, who was drawing a second metallic rod from his sleeve.

"I told you, I'm not after _them_! If anyone should be running, Shinichi, it's _you_!" He placed the sharpened edge of the metal rod at the older Shinichi's throat as the other man placed his gun at the immortal's eye.

"I'm not running from you," the older Shinichi said quietly, unafraid. "If you were going to kill me, you would've done it a long time ago. Now put the toy away."

"Oi oi!" the younger Shinichi interjected. "No need for violence. _Both_ of you put your weapons down." Although Shinichi had a slight tremor in his fisted hands, his voice was steady and calm. If either man made a move, that would be Kaito's cue to create a distraction and to disarm them. Even if these two were some future variation of himself and Shinichi, they were still unstable and dangerous.

The crimson-eyed Kaito nodded and slid the metallic rod back into his sleeve before turning away. "I wish you'd understand, Shinichi. But you don't. You never will." The older Shinichi lowered and reholstered his gun as the immortal continued quietly, "It hurts."

"I can't understand with you lashing out at me."

"I can't make you understand any other way. Words don't express it. Can't even come close. It hurts. I'm tired. I can't do it." The other Kaito started to walk away, turning his back on everyone else. "Call me 'Doc.' Call him 'Ren.'" With that, the immortal put some distance between himself and the others and then vanished completely.

The older Shinichi blinked and muttered, "Damn. Flash-step. Oh well… I'll find him again."

"Sorry," Shinichi started, earning Ren's attention. "What exactly is going on here? You two mentioned things like 'young you' while referring to me and Kaito."

Ren groaned and put his palm in his face. "You _would_ ask about that… Look, I really don't know if I can answer that. The only one that has much idea what's going on here just walked off." He rubbed at his temples and shook his head. "I'm sorry you two got involved in our little spat. Please try to avoid him and me from now on… we'll be out of your hair soon enough."

"That was a pretty intense fight for 'a little spat,'" Kaito pointed out blandly. "You two must hate each other."

Ren didn't reply to that for a long time. Instead, he seemed to search the magician's eyes as if the answer could be found there. "…I wouldn't call it hate," was what the man eventually decided on. "It's… complicated. We'd never go so far as to _kill_ each other… but that's about the only boundary that goes uncrossed. I hate what he does and I hate what Kaito- _Doc_ has become, but I can't say I hate him." The future Shinichi gave a deep sigh and looked toward where Doc had vanished. "…He's sick, you see… That's why I've got to be on his case. I don't want him to hurt someone if he has another episode… Look, I really need to go. I need to make sure he doesn't cause any mayhem here in the past. Schizophrenics and time-travel really shouldn't mix." Before either the magician or detective could ask Ren anything more, the man was off, probably to look for Doc again.

After Ren's departure, the magician gave a slight whistle. Sometimes his ability to read between the lines was a blessing; this time, it felt like a death sentence. Ren's parting words were a major red flag in Kaito's mind. Future Kaito was a dangerous (likely unmedicated) schizophrenic… It made sense, given Doc's behavior just a short while ago… and it didn't help that Doc was _immortal_ of all things. _Go figure,_ the magician thought ruefully. _The one fate I've wanted to avoid since Day One._

He must've let something slip past his poker face, because soon, Shinichi was watching him with a slight frown. "Are you okay?"

He could go with the lie and say that he was fine. After all, the idea of time-travel being real must also imply that the future could potentially change, right? Maybe. But, even so, Shinichi was someone he'd come to trust over their years working together. The detective would probably easily see through even the best disguised deceptions… Then, that left the truth. "I don't know."

Rather than say anything, the detective simply nodded toward the alley they'd come from. Kaito appreciated the gesture. There were just too many unknowns and it wasn't all that likely that they'd make any progress on the matter on their own… Doc was probably too unstable to speak to about this whole mess and Ren seemed very skittish about giving away too much information… No, they wouldn't be able to rely on their future counterparts for much of anything… Maybe Akako would know something about this.

"I'm going to check around when we get back to the base," Shinichi murmured. "The whole thought of time-travel seems a bit too farfetched… but… I also can't think of any reason for those two to deceive us. I mean, if we were going to encounter a pair of strangers or any unfriendly party, why would they claim to be us? Why would they be after each other and not us, assuming they were some bizarre form of spies? And _why_ was Doc-san _immortal_ of all things?"

"Akako," Kaito murmured the name with relative discomfort. Even after knowing the witch for almost a decade, he still felt chills down his spine whenever her attention was on him. Asking her for any favors also tended to have disproportionate repayment as well, which was always a large deterrent. Sometimes, it was just better to go headlong into things and suffer the consequences… Unfortunately, this time wasn't one of those cases. Damn. At least this time he'd have Shinichi at his side.

"…Right. Understood," Shinichi, bless his soul, sounded skeptical (as was normal for Kaito's detectives), but at least he was willing to go along with it. It was part of the reason Kaito tended to favor the eastern detective more than the other two. Rather than ream him for making an outlandish claim or implying one, he just went with the flow and kept an open mind. It also didn't hurt that the eastern detective had personally witnessed some of the witch's… eccentricities and talents first-hand.

And so, the duo walked in relative quiet back to the base. Kaito couldn't say what Shinichi was thinking, specifically, but the magician, himself, was thinking through different ways to ask for information without owing Akako too much. Self-preservation and caution were two virtues he had in spades, after all.

* * *

Ren's mind was a torrent of thoughts and emotions as he continued to track Doc through the city. It was astonishing, earth-shaking, mind-blowing that they'd really and truly managed to travel through time itself and ended up in the past, even encountering their past selves. There was practically no chance for any of what he'd seen to be faked. Those two… his and Doc's past selves… they had the same appearance, same voices, same mannerisms… They had to be real, then. And, logically speaking, if they were real, then all of this would have to be the past. He'd noticed Aoko-san and the others as well. Even if Doc was trying to screw with his head, there was no chance of the immortal using anything or anyone to act like her. Twenty years had passed since her death and he'd never gotten over it. So… it was all real. _Damn_.

He couldn't say he knew much of anything about time-travel, and that was what made him nervous. In all of his other adventures and misadventures, he was never completely blind. There was always something he could cling to that would shed some light on pretty much any situation… except this one. He was on his own to figure out what was going on here. He was completely alone in his mission to capture Doc and somehow travel _back_ through time to _their_ present. Ren absently thumbed over the gem in his pocket, letting out a small sigh of frustration.

He wasn't sure what he should be looking for first, Doc or a way to travel back to the present. On the one hand, traveling back to the present would be his safety net, should he encounter Doc again. It would allow him to better contain the immortal and drag him back to their time. On the _other_ hand, if he completely ignored Doc, bad things would start happening in _this_ time that could possibly have catastrophic impacts on _their_ time… It would probably be best to go for the immortal and do his best to subdue him first. Finding a way home, while a pleasant thought, would probably make things harder.

Doc, even schizophrenic and jumping at ghosts, was a cautious person when he wanted to be. Admittedly, he'd gotten extremely careless since he'd become immortal (mostly thanks to the depression and desperation that came with such a fate), but that didn't change that he once was the elusive Kaitou Kid. Back in the old days— _these_ days, Ren's mind unhelpfully noted—Kid had been an uncatchable thief. Now (in the future?), he hadn't lost his old touch, being the one murderer to always evade capture (or escape immediately after). It was going to be nothing short of a nightmare to catch and contain him.

Still, the immortal's shortfall was that he and Ren had simply known each other for far too long. It wasn't hard for the old detective to figure out where he'd be likely to go. Doc could run all he'd like, but he'd still be found.

The late afternoon sun bathed the city in varying shades of orange and red. It was a pleasant sight, but it also would be the forerunner of disaster. Doc was essentially nocturnal, after all… appearing at night and utterly vanishing during the daytime. _Come to think of it,_ Ren thought, stopping to regain his bearings. _I don't really get why he decided to time-travel during the afternoon. It doesn't fit his pattern… Either there's some kind of time constraint he was under, or there was something pressuring him to do it during the daytime._ _One of the voices, maybe? No, he did mention something about a monster kitsune at some point. If anything, that's probably what's calling the shots for him._ And wasn't _that_ a terrible thought!

The old detective took a moment to reload his weapon before continuing on. His thoughts raced on, drawing him to one of Kaitou Kid's bolt holes. As he got closer to the hideaway, he started feeling like he was being watched, though he couldn't quite pinpoint the source of the sensation. It didn't feel like Doc, though. It felt a lot more malicious and appraising, sending chills down his spine. Something was in there… though what, Ren wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Taking in a deep breath and keeping a hand on his gun, he entered the bolt hole and saw the immortal backed into a corner, noticeably paled with frightened eyes. _Shit, he's having an attack right now?_

"Go away…" Doc whimpered, backing as far into the corner as he could. Apparently, whatever he was seeing was still closing the distance between itself and its prey, because soon the immortal's whimpers turned into a howl of fear and he'd pulled one of his metal rods out.

"Kaito," Ren said as calmly as he could manage. It was painful, seeing his old friend and rival suffering like this. What made it worse was knowing that there was nothing he could do to fix it. He'd tried. He'd failed. Miserably, at that. "Look at me, Kaito."

Doc either didn't notice his presence or was too fixated on his imaginary fright to care. But, that opened an opportunity for the old detective to get closer. He moved slowly, making sure the frightened man didn't take much note of him until Ren was close enough to touch him. Doc suddenly turned his weapon on himself, forcing it painfully through his own abdomen and howling, "Fucking disappear!" Ren let out a cry of surprise that was shortly after masked by Doc's screech of pain. "If only it were that easy, ne?"

This had to stop, and soon. Sure, it was impossible for Doc to die, but seeing him tear himself apart like this was _not_ okay. "Kaito!" Ren yelled, placing a hand on the smaller man's shoulder. "Look at me, Kaito." He took note of the direction the immortal's eyes moved and carefully obscured the smaller man's vision. More gently, he repeated, "Look at me, Kaito."

"Sh-Shinichi…?" Doc asked, voice quiet and very pained. "You… when did you get here…? C-careful… it's angry… _they're_ angry…"

"It's alright, Kaito," Ren assured him, keeping a gentle hand on the smaller man's shoulder and keeping him from looking at whatever plagued his mind. "It'll be okay," he continued, "I'm here. I won't let them hurt you. Want me to help you get that out of you?" It was an incredibly awkward question, but Doc really needed the pole out of him and probably wouldn't do so on his own.

Doc's eyes wandered down slightly before he nodded. With Ren's efforts and the Pandora sparks, soon the immortal was very little worse off than he'd been before. Rattled, yes. Injured, no. Doc's hand slightly shook, but soon he looked to the ground at his feet and murmured, "…Thanks…"

Ren simply nodded and sat down next to the immortal. "What are you doing, Kaito?"

"… Fixing it… I want to die."

"I know…" Ren murmured. "Not much for us to live for, is there?"

Doc shook his head. "Tired… So tired of all this… Came back to fix things… tried so hard… still failed… Still failed."

"You came back to change things just enough so that you could die?" Ren hazarded the guess. He earned a nod in response. "So, you're not trying to doom the future?"

"No… What's the point? It's already doomed as it is… There's no hope. Everyone's dead." Doc gave a heavy sigh, eyes never leaving the ground. "I failed them… if I can change just that little, I'll be happy…"

It was possible that Doc was lying, but given his demeanor and fixation on 'failure' and 'suicide,' it was unlikely. The old detective gave a sigh of his own. "…Do you know much about time-travel?" Doc was the only one that had any inkling about what was going on, after all. Maybe he'd be willing to part with something useful.

"Too much," the man answered despondently. "…Talking to our past selves won't change anything, just so you know. Time's not fragile. It's really hard to change history… it's hard to change even the dumbest little thing, much less a series of events…"

"You're absolutely certain of that?" Ren asked, skeptical of it all. "Nothing will change if we interact with people from the past?"

"Right," Doc nodded. "You kind of have to make sure that the conditions still exist for time-travel in the first place… I guess, you could say you have to make time loop before any changes take place… It's a pain in the ass…"

"How exactly do you know this?" Doc's answer to this question would determine what action Ren would take. If it sounded impossible, he'd probably do his best to get the smaller man taken back to the future. If it sounded possible… he wasn't sure what he'd do. Doc wasn't wrong for wanting things to change, and he sounded like he was going to only change the Pandora mess they'd gotten into… Maybe it wouldn't be wrong to help him change just that event…

"You wouldn't believe me even if I said it," Doc murmured. "I tried to change history before… a few times. Failed… Nothing in our time changed. Nothing at all… No matter what I did…"

The old detective blinked. Come to think of it, Doc _did_ have the gem before him. It made some kind of sense that he would've tested out time-travel before bringing anyone else into the matter… "Oh…" There wasn't much else he could say to that. "Want to sleep?"

"Hmm…?"

"I won't pull any tricks… I think, somehow, you might be trying to do something good. I'll help, if you want me to." Ren said sincerely, hoping his old friend would understand his intent.

"… Thanks," Doc murmured, eyes looking relieved. The smaller man's frown had faded into something just this side of content. Ren couldn't be sure what was going to happen from now on, but, at least for the moment, he'd gotten a little trust. And one hell of a mission.

* * *

 _And so begins Doc and Ren's mission in the past..._


	4. It Hurts

_Hey-hey! I'm back from the dead (temporarily)! My schedule at the moment is very liquid at the moment. I either have no work due or all of it due at the same time... haha... But, anyway... I'd like to thank everyone for the views, reviews, favorites, and follows that this story has accumulated._

 _Chapter warnings: Angst, language, and death at the tail end of the chapter._

 _Also, I'm going to assure you now, it's not violence and death for the sake of violence and death. Everything has its purpose, even if it seems grim._

* * *

To say that he was looking forward to approaching Akako with all of his questions about time-travel and whatever the hell he and Shinichi had just stumbled upon would be an overstatement. Whether it was in an attempt to delay the inevitable or to satisfy his own curiosity, Kaito had turned back to the alleyway, catching Shinichi off-guard, and picked up the discarded metallic rod that had been stained with Ren's blood. Morbid? Yes. But, at least it was a little more solid proof that what was happening was real. It might help Akako out, too, having a physical object from the two time-travelers…

He wasn't sure why, but when he'd found the pole and actually touched it, he felt like he couldn't breathe, if only for a second. A sensation of panic almost took him over before that, too, passed. What the hell…? Blinking, he turned the object over in his hand, inspecting it from every angle, but aside from the still-drying blood (which made him slightly cringe when his hand brushed over it) and the obviously metallic feel, there wasn't much of note about it. Well, okay, it looked like a thin pipe that had been broken and sharpened, but that was about all he could tell. So Future-Kaito was a fan of pipes… Somehow, that felt both perfectly random and yet so much like himself all in one… Er, the randomness, not the pipe-toting nature.

"Something wrong?" Shinichi asked, looking perplexed. "Mind if I look at it?" he asked, crouching down next to the magician and offering an open hand. Maybe the meitantei would glean more from it than he could… Nodding, Kaito passed the bloodied pipe over to him and watched his reaction.

Strangely enough, Shinichi didn't seem fazed by it. There was no reaction, no change in his breathing or expression. Whatever had just happened to Kaito didn't seem to affect the detective in the slightest.

"Nothing?" the magician asked, slightly furrowing his brow in confusion. "When I grabbed it, it felt like I couldn't breathe for a few seconds."

Shinichi blinked and looked back to him, as if trying to gauge his sincerity. Kaito shot him a slight glare. No, he wasn't making that up. It was insulting that the detective would even think that. Offering a placating gesture with his free hand, Shinichi said, "Sorry. From what I can see, it's a broken and sharpened pipe. Pretty thin, but not uncommon. Doc-san could've gotten it anywhere… though why a pipe, I have no idea. Other than that, I didn't really have any special sensations while picking it up."

"Ah, okay," Kaito murmured, taking the pipe back from the detective. The sensation didn't return. Had it not been such a vivid experience, he would've thought he'd simply been reading too much into things… Another question for Akako, he mentally sighed. Hopefully she was in a good mood… or this held her genuine interest. Either would lessen his repayment. Looking around and seeing nothing of further interest, he got up and started back toward the base, Shinichi following suit.

The trip back to the base felt uncomfortably short and quiet. The streets were only sparsely populated and most of the expected noise from traffic just didn't seem to be there today. The soft oranges and reds offered by the sunset only seemed to juxtapose the slight feeling of anxiety that had chosen to remain, even after the initial sensation died out. His instincts were telling him something was off. Something was going to happen… And wasn't that ridiculous? Sure, Akako was a little frightening (hey, she trapped him in a ring of fire shortly after meeting him. It was _completely_ justified.), but she wouldn't actively try to cause him distress or pain. He'd like to think they'd gotten past _that_ part of their complex relationship, at the very least.

Then why was he dreading the encounter so much? It didn't make sense. As he got to the lower level of the base where the others were gathered, either going over strategy or checking over supplies, the anxiety intensified. _They're watching me… waiting for me to slip up. Waiting for an opportunity-_

"Kuroba-kun, drop it," Akako's voice commanded. She was appraising him, judging him. Who was she to tell him what to do? "Drop it," she ordered again. The others turned to look at the scene they were making and Kaito could almost feel himself bristle with agitation.

"Kaito?" Aoko asked, looking concerned and walking over to him. "Kaito, are you okay? What is that?" As she reached out to take the pipe from him, he jerked his arm back. That wasn't for her to touch.

"I'll take that," Shinichi muttered, snatching the pipe from behind. The anxiousness and distrust faded immediately, leaving Kaito to wonder why he'd even felt that way to begin with. Everyone here was a friend. There was no reason Aoko couldn't look at something he'd found… and why had he gotten so upset that he'd been told to drop the damn thing? He felt emotionally whiplashed, and that didn't make sense.

"What just happened?" he asked, looking between his fiancé and friends.

"It seems you have found something intriguing," Akako replied, moving over to Shinichi to inspect the pipe, crimson eyes focused and a slight frown forming.

"It's just a pipe, isn't it?" Shinichi asked.

"Yes," the witch answered. "But it has been touched by a rather dark aura. Kuroba-kun, do not handle this item any further."

"Just me?" Kaito asked, confused. "Why not? Wouldn't it affect everyone the same way?"

"No. The aura connected to it is a distorted form of your own. It is almost permeated with fear and malice. Therefore," Akako explained, much to the mystification of the others present in the room, "it can cause only you any harm. Like affects like."

"But each aura is unique, right?" Shinichi asked, probably seeing where Akako was heading with this. "Only Kaito's aura can affect Kaito, right?" At Akako's nod, the eastern detective frowned. "Damn."

"So they really were us…" Kaito murmured, slightly shaking his head. _I really_ am _going to turn into Doc one day…_ The thought sickened him. As childish as it sounded, he didn't _want_ to become Doc. Doc was immortal; Doc was schizophrenic. Doc was an unrepentant murderer.

"Oi, Kudou," Hattori started, looking mildly confused and irritated. "What're ya goin' on about? What's goin' on here?" Right, the western detective and Hakuba were both still pretty skeptical of magic, despite having proof through Akako and Pandora. All that talk of auras and Kaito's own little 'episode' just now was probably pretty strange to them…

Shinichi took in a deep breath, probably trying to find an easy explanation for everything. Eventually he settled with, "Remember that strange man we saw on the way back?" Hattori nodded. "He was… apparently he was me from some time in the future." Jaws dropped all around and eyes went wide with surprise. Kudou Shinichi had just mentioned he'd met his future self. It was probably just as hard for them to process as it had been for both the eastern detective and magician because it _didn't make sense_. With a mirthless chuckle, Shinichi said, "Yeah. Future-me and Future-Kaito happen to be roaming the streets at the moment. Future-me is the one that got stabbed with the pipe, by the way."

"…Ya've got ta be kiddin' me."

"I wish I was."

"And what about Future-Kuroba?" Hakuba asked. "The way you phrased it makes me think that he was the one to stab your future self." Looking between Shinichi and Kaito, he said, "You two are usually on friendly terms with one another. If they did fight, the question is what happened to cause it to escalate to that level. I am also assuming that there were no fatalities. Correct me if I am wrong."

"No, you're right," Shinichi nodded, looking a little more somber. "Future-Kaito… he's…" It was touching, how the eastern detective was trying to watch his words for Kaito's sake. At the same time, however, pussyfooting around the issue wouldn't clarify a thing.

"Future-me's an immortal schizophrenic murderer," Kaito said, moving his gaze to the floor. It would be better in the long run to be as blunt as possible with what they knew and what they learned. That way there would be less chance of someone miscommunicating for politeness' sake.

Understandably, the others were completely taken off-guard, especially Aoko… Unfortunately, he couldn't really answer the question of _why_ Doc had turned into what he was. He couldn't even be sure of what Doc meant when he'd been yelling about everyone being dead. No, he couldn't tell if everyone was _actually_ dead. Not from Doc's testimony alone. It was obvious that there was some kind of trauma, something that pushed him over the edge, but Kaito couldn't say what had done it.

"Yer jokin', right? _You_ , kill someone?" Hattori asked, extremely incredulous. Was the idea really that outlandish?

Akako held out a hand, silencing the murmurs and confusion. "The only way to discover what is occurring is to find them, would you not agree?" There were more murmurs from within the group. Kaito heard mostly agreement from their nuclear group, but outside of the original group of friends, others, like Akio's lot, seemed unsure. To be fair, Kaito and Akio had never really "clicked." There wasn't any real relationship between them, other than that of an occasional job or two that they'd worked together on. It was understandable, then, that they wouldn't want to take any unnecessary risks. Even Kaito had once told Shinichi that it was better not to open Pandora's Box, after all. The whole time-travel curio might even interfere with their (very limited) chance to obtain Pandora and capture the Black Organization's leader and second-in-command…

"No," Kaito sighed. "It's interesting… but it'd probably be better to focus on the mission. We can deal with the whole 'time-travel' thing later."

"You sure, Kuroba-kun?" Akio asked, slightly cocking his head, hazel eyes meeting Kaito's own indigo ones. "We can't afford to be distracted on this next job. It'll be dangerous enough on its own." There were days the young intelligence officer could be genuinely worried about things, but today was not one of those days. At least, that was what his just-barely condescending tone implied. Jackass.

"Yeah, yeah. Can we please focus on the task at hand? I'd hate for you to blow it because you were worried about me," Kaito sniped back. Akio twitched with irritation, but didn't bother responding. Aoko shot the intelligence officer an apologetic look, but he offered her a slight grin and waved it off. "We good?" the magician asked.

"I'd say so," Akio agreed good-naturedly. "We head out tomorrow morning, so be sure to get some rest." The young officer gave a light-hearted salute and left with Hakuba. Knowing those two, they'd be busy strategizing and thinking through back up plans. Actually, it wouldn't be a bad idea to head in with Aoko and join them…

"Anything you want me to relay to group, Shinichi?" Kaito asked with a slight yawn. Although the meitantei wouldn't be personally accompanying them on this mission, he knew exactly who they were going to encounter and what they were like. Unfortunately, the eastern detective's portion of the Black Organization was a lot more terrifying than Snake and the snipers, though both sections were still ruthless killers and still needed a certain amount of caution to approach. The detective had already explicitly warned him about Gin. Apparently the man was as clever as Holmes' Moriarty and could kill a man without a second thought. So, naturally, Kaito was almost certain they'd encounter him. But, then again, Gin was the entire reason why they'd opted to use a small group focused on disguises and blending in, rather than using members such as Ran or Hattori. And Shinichi was far too recognizable to most members of the Black Organization by this point. Hell, Kaito wouldn't have been able to use his own face, had he wanted to, thanks to the meitantei's infamy amongst the Organization's ranks.

"Ah," Shinichi mumbled, hand at his chin. "I don't think I have anything new for you guys. Just be careful. If you have to choose between failure and death, failure's a much better option. There will always be some other opportunity."

"Right. Thanks, Shinichi," Kaito nodded. Looking over to Aoko, he then turned his head toward the back room and walked over to it with his fiancé in-tow.

* * *

Night fell upon them far too quickly, bringing with it the persistent nightmares that would forever haunt both Ren and Doc. The former let out a sigh as he watched the latter writhe in his sleep. He'd promised Doc that he'd make sure nothing attacked him while he was asleep… not that anything would, of course. They were tucked away out of sight and out of mind of the outside world. No one would notice them and no one would care that they were here. Still, despite being immortal, Doc was only human. He still had his fair share of fears and insecurities.

It was funny how, despite all the time that had passed since Doc had lived with him and Ran, it felt as though nothing had changed. Maybe that was the truth. Doc was still sick and Ren was still responsible for him. What was the saying, again? The more things change, the more they stay the same…? Things had changed, certainly. Ran and the others were long-gone by now, as painful as it was to even think about… and both himself and Doc had changed over time. They'd learned hopelessness and despair were the rulers of reality and that for every good deed they'd done, they were repaid one thousand-fold in evil. There was nothing to look forward to but the vain hope that tomorrow would be a better day.

He wasn't sure whether it was dumb luck or fate that Doc had decided to give him a little trust, either. The immortal had claimed that everything had been intentional, but he had just come out of an episode and probably wanted to keep someone around out of fear of the monsters inside of his head. Ren wasn't about to press the issue (or his luck) for an answer. Trust was a fragile thing, after all, and it was easy to overstep certain boundaries, given Doc's illness.

The old detective rubbed at his wounded shoulder and winced. Knowing Kaito, he'd probably left some kind of first aid kit or something here in the event of injury during a heist. Now that he finally had a free moment, it would probably be in his best interest to find it and properly treat his shoulder. He'd played it tough for Doc and their past selves, but that had hurt like hell… It still stung, and probably would for a while, but at least it hadn't been his dominant shoulder or a leg. He had that to be grateful for, he supposed. He was still better off than his time's Akio or Ran…

A brief search later and Ren had secured the first aid kit. It was going to be a pain to wrap his own shoulder, but he really doubted he'd get someone else to help with that, and the wound wasn't severe enough for him to risk a hospital. Even if it wouldn't change much if he interacted with the staff, if they'd somehow find out he was Kudou Shinichi… well, he didn't want to think about that.

There were a lot of things he didn't want to think about anymore, he mused as he cleaned the wound and grit his teeth as he wrapped his shoulder. Predominantly, he didn't want to think about his old friends and wife. Everyone had died horrible deaths… and most of those deaths were Doc's handiwork. Every one of those deaths Ren felt personally responsible for because of that. He was a detective. It was his _job_ to prevent death when he could, and yet, he'd stood by, stupefied, as Doc killed them. He'd known who the murderer was, how he'd committed each crime (except for the Hattoris and his parents, that is), and there was plenty of evidence against the immortal… and he'd hidden it all… He was such a fool.

"…I'm sorry…" Doc's whimper startled him out of his thoughts. "…I'm sorry, Ran-san… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"

' _Sorry' won't bring her back,_ Ren found himself thinking bitterly. _It won't change the fact that you brutalized her. Sick or not, there's nothing that will ever redeem you from that._ As much as he pitied Doc, he would never forgive him for taking Ran away… for killing her with so much brutality… for leaving her fucking _head_ in a fucking _box_ for him to find! Even thinking about that day made the old detective shake with rage, fingernails digging into the flesh of his palm in his anger. Fucking Kaito! The bastard took _everything_ from him! Ren felt a slight growl work its way out of his throat and he glared at Doc's writhing form. Maybe he should just end this here and now. Drag Doc back to the future and say to hell with everything. The bastard was little more than an animal anyway. Locking him away in a cage forever wouldn't be unheard of.

"… I'm sorry…" Doc murmured again, getting no pity from the agitated detective. The immortal hugged his knees to his chest and hid his face in them. "I'm sorry, Shinichi… It's all my fault…"

"Yeah," Ren agreed, anger starting to dissipate at Doc's pitiful display. "It is." His old friend gave a slight whimper, but didn't even attempt to say anything more. Gritting his teeth for a moment, the detective let out a strained sigh. "It's my fault too." Doc looked up at him, confusion clearly written in his eyes. He looked about ready to cry. "It's what you wanted me to figure out, isn't it? You kept begging me to help you. Begging me to notice you… And I didn't." That was when the tears started to fall silently down his old friend's face. "You kept getting more and more desperate for me to notice you. You needed my attention and help and I didn't give that to you. Not in the way you needed." Despite all that he said, though, Ren couldn't bring himself to apologize. Maybe he was still too upset to let himself, but to apologize would be too much like forgiving him… Ren could admit that he was in the wrong, but he couldn't forgive what Doc had done. Even so, his heart wasn't stone. Not yet. The old detective sighed and knelt down to his old friend's level, meeting tearful eyes with his own solemn ones. "But that's why we're here, right? To fix things."

"…Y-yeah…" Doc nodded, quietly rubbing at his eyes with his jacket sleeve. "…You look pretty tired… Do you want to sleep?"

"You said you wanted me to keep watch," Ren stated. Though, yes, he was tired, having Doc sleep-deprived and irritable in the morning wouldn't be good.

"I… I don't sleep much at night," Doc murmured, looking away. "The kitsune and corpses like to find me at night… If you can sleep through it… that's okay…"

Ren slightly ruffled his old friend's hair, much to Doc's surprise. "How about we sleep together tonight? That way we both sleep and the monsters will leave you alone. Sound good?" He really didn't want to do it, but damn it, Doc was just too pitiful right now. The immortal needed _someone_ to rely on in this time… at least to keep him from hurting anyone. Joy of joys, Ren was probably the only one qualified.

Doc's eyes widened and his jaw slightly dropped at the offer. "You-you'd do that for me? Really?" he asked, voice hopeful. He looked so childlike, so innocent in the moment. Ren was fairly certain even a stone would soften up for the weary immortal.

With a faint quirk of the lips, Ren murmured, "Of course." That decided on, Ren sat down and leaned against the wall next to where Doc had taken residence on a futon. His shoulder still twinged quite a bit, but he was tired enough that it probably wouldn't keep him up for very long. Worst-case scenario, he didn't wake up in the morning. Best-case, Doc would have renewed faith in him. While he wasn't much of a gambling man, he was pretty sure he'd still be breathing in the morning. Doc had always kept him alive up until now, anyway. It'd be strange for him to go this far and suddenly change his mind.

The immortal quietly scooted closer to him and closed his eyes, murmuring, "Goodnight Shinichi… See you in the morning…?" He must've still been uncertain about their arrangement, given the way his voice wavered.

"Yeah, see you in the morning, Kaito. Goodnight," Ren said quietly. He stayed awake until he heard Doc's breathing even out, then, opportunity given, closed his eyes. It wasn't much longer before the gentle darkness lulled him to sleep.

* * *

 _Shinichi's parents had opted to return to Japan when they'd heard about the Hattoris' deaths. For once, the detective was incredibly grateful to have them around. Between them, Ran's parents, and Ran, herself, they'd managed to get a kind of support group going to take the edge off of their grief._

 _He was pretty sure his father was keeping an eye on Kaito through it all, but those dark days passed in such a blur that it was possible that the magician had been on his own. Even several days after the funeral had passed, Shinichi hadn't seen hide nor hair of him. He was probably grieving in his own way… he didn't take death all that well._

 _Shinichi could usually brush off deaths and the emotional burden that came with them, but, as he'd been quickly learning, when they were personal, he couldn't dull the pain. Hattori Heiji had been his brother-in-arms throughout his time fighting the Black Organization. He'd known him ever since he'd been shrunk and he'd been one of Shinichi's closest friends because of his keen intelligence and brotherly tendencies. They'd done so much together… they'd caught countless criminals together. They'd bickered over Doyle and Christie together. They'd managed to do the impossible and capture Kaitou Kid together, and even convinced Kaito to join their cause… They'd also shared the burden of their so-called curse together… In a world where people dropped dead at their feet with no discernible reason, it took quite a bit of reassurance to stay strong._

 _And now he was gone. Just like that. He didn't even know who was responsible for his death… Yeah, the two of them had enemies… but he'd checked everything over time and time again and found nothing. The only one that even mentioned wanting to kill Heiji was Kaito… and Kaito had been completely attached to Shinichi at the time. They hadn't been close enough for the magician to have possibly pushed Kazuha onto the tracks… It didn't make sense… Nothing made sense…_

" _Shinichi?" Ran asked, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I can't find Kaito-kun anywhere. Have you seen him?"_

 _It took a moment for the words to sink in. "Huh? Kaito's missing? Are you sure he's not just in the library or his room? Maybe a bathroom?"_

 _She shook her head. "We already checked the whole house and the yard. He's not anywhere…"_

 _Great. Just great! Heiji and Kazuha were dead, and now Kaito was missing. Could today get any worse?! "Alright," he said, taking in a deep, calming breath. "Let's see if we can find him."_

 _He quickly dug out his cell phone and dialed Kaito's number, hoping the other would answer. For a long while, all Shinichi got in response was the phone ringing. Just as it was about to cut over to voicemail, a sleepy voice asked, "Hello?" It wasn't Kaito's voice. The voice was slightly higher pitched and somewhat feminine. Had he lost his phone?_

" _Hello, this is Kudou Shinichi. You wouldn't happen to know where my roommate, Kuroba Kaito, is, would you?" Well, it was better to be direct in situations like this. They_ did _have Kaito's phone, so it was likely they'd, at the very least, encountered him._

" _Ah, give me a second, would you?" the voice asked before saying something that Shinichi couldn't make out. Probably saying something to someone else in the room. "Um, yep. He's at my place," the speaker said sheepishly. "Is something wrong, Kudou-san?"_

" _No, nothing's wrong," he answered. "Just please keep him there until I get there." Part of him wanted to warn the speaker that Kaito was sick and potentially violent, but the other part was too concerned that if he did, the other person might force Kaito out or be afraid of him. Neither of those options were good._

 _Thankfully, the other person was kind enough to offer their name and where they were living without any struggle. Then again, why would they fight? And… come to think of it. Did Kaito even know a Ryouichi Roko? But would he really run to a stranger? But, Ryouichi would've known who Kaito was had they been pre-acquainted… Damn… this was embarrassing…_

 _As he hung up, Ran asked, "Did you find him?" Bless her soul, she looked pretty worried. It was weird, contrasting sharply with Shinichi's own feelings of agitation and embarrassment, though he'd never tell her that._

" _Yeah," he nodded, placing the phone back in his pocket. "Someone by the name of Ryouichi Roko found him. Ever hear about them?" Ran shook her head. Damn, then they really were a stranger. Damn it, Kaito. "Well, let's go collect our magician, I guess."_

" _Shinichi? Are you sure you don't want to reconsider keeping Kaito-kun?" his wife tentatively questioned, eyes downcast. "You look pretty annoyed."_

" _It's fine," he dismissed, turning and heading out to get Kaito. "I'm not going to throw him out to the streets. He's still my friend."_

" _I'm not saying we throw him out without a plan, Shinichi," she pressed, following him outside. "I'm saying he might need more help than we can offer… especially after…"_

" _No. I'm fine. It'll be fine." The rest of their walk was in silence, annoyingly enough. At least Ryouichi's house wasn't all that far away. A few streets away, maybe a block or two at most._

 _The house was small and simple. Shinichi wasn't quite sure what drew Kaito to it. It wasn't all that dissimilar to any of the other neighboring homes. Oh well, that didn't matter right now. What mattered was getting him home before he had an episode. He walked up to the door and rang the doorbell. Like with the phone call, he ended up waiting a little while before the home's owner walked to the door. "Kudou-san, right?" the owner, a relatively androgynous looking person (Shinichi actually couldn't tell the gender. There were both masculine and feminine aspects and their voice didn't swing too much one way or another.) asked, slightly smiling at him._

" _Right. Ryouichi-san, then?"_

 _The homeowner nodded and brought them inside their home (the gender thing was going to be a pain to figure out). Sure enough, when they'd reached the living room, Kaito was asleep on the couch._

" _Thank you so much for keeping an eye on him," Ran said with a slight bow of appreciation._

" _Oh, it was no problem," Ryouichi laughed, good-naturedly. "He's actually a real sweetie. Just wanted some attention. Ol' Roko's fine with giving that out." Well, at least Ryouichi didn't seem all that bothered by Kaito's behavior. If there was one good thing about this, that would be it. Though, the look Ran shot him was absolutely scathing. It wasn't like it was his fault that the magician ran off._

" _Sorry…" Kaito murmured, now sitting up and watching them disinterestedly. "I won't run off again. I just needed something…" Though what, he never elaborated on. Instead, the magician simply got to his feet and thanked Roko for keeping an eye on him before following Shinichi and Ran back home._

 _Several days later, after they'd finally pulled themselves back together, Shinichi's parents headed out again. If he could, he'd go back to that moment and change what he'd last said to them. It was bad enough losing the Hattoris. After hearing about the plane crash, the detective felt physically ill for days. The loss left him constantly irate and, more than once, he'd snapped at everyone around him, putting his relationship with Ran under strain and driving Kaito to flee the room anytime their eyes met._

 _He couldn't deal with this._

* * *

 _Another tragedy... It hurts._


	5. The Merciless Reality

_Welcome back, friends! Sorry for taking so long on fanfics... but hey! Back now! I want to thank everyone for all the views, reviews, follows, and favorites! They really cheer me on, you know?_

 _But, anyway. Some things to keep in mind for this chapter... Well, I've always wondered why everyone that makes Pandora a living thing tend to make it benevolent. I mean, if I were stuck in a gem for who-knows-how-long, I'd be awfully mad. Oh! And I did something fantastic with this chapter! No serious warnings this time around, either._

* * *

The meeting had started shortly after Kaito and Aoko had seated themselves around the small conference table. Both Hakuba and Akio sent him odd looks as he entered, though the magician ignored them in stride.

"Well kids," Akio started, "looks like this is the final briefing."

"Shinichi didn't have anything new to add," Kaito reported with a shrug.

"That is good," Hakuba sighed, rubbing at his temples. "We already have a slight reshuffling of agents for the mission."

"Hah? What do you mean?" Kaito asked. "I thought it was agreed that you were staying out of this and Akio and one of his guys was going to be alongside myself, Aoko, and Akako." Could they not change things the night before the mission, please? He already had enough to worry about with so many heading out undercover tomorrow. There was no reason to compound that pre-existing anxiety with sudden change in casting.

"Well," Akio shrugged, "now I'm out. We decided to cut the amount of undercover agents… which means there's no room for mistakes from you guys, understood?"

"Wait, then who's all going?" Aoko asked, apparently just as out-of-the-loop as her fiancé.

"The final group that will be on the Pandora mission tomorrow consists of just Kuroba, Aoko-kun, and Akako," Hakuba said, though judging by his shifty body language and glance over at the witch, he wasn't comfortable with this. Great. Fantastic, even. Now they would have practically no police presence in there.

"What the hell, man?!" Kaito exclaimed, slamming a hand on the table. "You're sending us in there with no backup?! You realize if anything goes wrong, we're fucked, right?"

The British detective didn't meet his gaze and also didn't reply. The intelligence officer rested his elbow on the table and his head on his hand. He looked completely unimpressed. "I get that you're upset, Kid, really, I do." Kaito glared and Akio raised his other hand in a placating manner. "But we had too many agents for this. We would've been found out and killed. Anyway, you three are the best at what you do. We'd only be dead weight for you to carry, you know?"

"But we _have no backup_ ," Kaito growled, hitting the table again.

"I thought you didn't need backup," Akio glared back. "Look, we're out of time. Tomorrow's _the_ day."

"We still have some hours left. Get. Us. Backup."

"If we were to have backup, Kuroba," Hakuba sighed, keeping his face in his hand. "They would know there were agents. Giving you any form of muscle on this mission is impossible without blowing your cover."

"Kaito," Aoko soothed, grabbing the magician's hand, "we'll be okay. You're leading, remember?"

Letting out a huff of frustration, Kaito asked, "Then what the hell are you doing?"

Hakuba finally looked back at them and said with marginally less remorse, "Myself, Kudou, and Akio-keiji are going to keep an eye on the cameras and help guide you past the worst of the danger. Even if there's no physical backup, at least you will not be in there alone."

"See?" Aoko murmured rubbing her thumb against the back of Kaito's hand. "It'll be okay. Try to have some faith in our friends, okay?"

"And," Hakuba continued, "there will be a few officers on standby. If anything happens, they'll do their best." What was left unspoken, of course, was "to collect Pandora". None of them were fools. If something happened during the mission, standby officers or none, the undercover three would almost certainly be killed in short order.

"I still don't like it," Kaito mumbled.

"Have some faith, Kid," Akio sighed. "You're quite possibly the best at disguise in Japan… well, aside from your parents, of course. You've got Aoko-san, who has some pretty damn remarkable luck on her side, and she isn't too shabby with disguise, either."

Aoko beamed with pride and slightly elbowed her fiancé, "I had a great teacher, you know?" Despite his misgivings, Kaito couldn't help but slightly snicker. She was really trying to cheer him up, huh? Maybe she was right. They could do this.

"Okay, okay," the magician sighed. "I get it. Aoko, Akako, and I are probably the best-suited for the job as we're going to get."

"I would not concern myself over it, Kuroba-kun," Akako finally chimed in from beside Hakuba. "Everything should go according to plan. Even with the time-travelers' meddling." If he were honest, the witch was probably right. Granted, they didn't have backup, but they _did_ have Akako's magic if things went screwy. Maybe that would be all that they needed.

But she brought up another worrying point as well. _We don't know why Doc and Ren are here… what they plan on doing… well, what Doc plans on doing,_ Kaito amended. _What if he's here to mess with the mission? Could we really face him down if he were?_ No, it was pretty obvious that they wouldn't. Even with Akako's magic, Kaito was pretty sure Doc could easily end them if he so chose to. Why did there have to be so many complicating factors this time around?

"That's all I've got for you," Akio said, getting out of his seat and heading toward the door. "Good luck, Kid. Try not to screw this up." With that, the officer was gone… and Kaito could almost feel his blood pressure rise.

"Just think of it as another show, Kuroba," Hakuba murmured. "I know everything about this is far from ideal… but I trust your judgment. I know you will do everything in your power to make this work… I guess what I am saying is that you need to trust yourself." Slowly rising to his feet, the British detective looked down, shook his head, and headed out of the room with a "Get some rest" called from over his shoulder.

Shortly after, Akako rose to her feet. "Try to rest, Kuroba-kun," the witch murmured, heading out of the room. "Tomorrow will probably feel like an eternity if you do not."

Finally alone in the conference room, Aoko let out a small sigh. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked, slightly nudging Kaito out of his thoughts. She waited for him to blink and glance over at her before saying, "You look really stressed out… So what's wrong?"

"Ugh… what's _not_?" he shot back, running his free hand through his hair. "I'm supposed to be leading this mission and they throw me _that far_ out of the loop? I mean, seriously, what the hell?"

"Yeah, but everything seems to be pretty well-thought-out," she countered thoughtfully. "I mean, we'll have Shinichi-kun, Hakuba-kun, and Akio-keiji all guiding us past anything or anyone dangerous. And, we have you to help us with disguise and voices if we screw something up. Even if we don't exactly know where Pandora is in the warehouse yet, between us and the guides, we should be perfectly fine. Plus," she added with a hug, "we kind of have the best person for breaking that gem out of pretty much anything those guys could hide it in."

She wasn't wrong… "But… something still feels off," he confessed, hugging her back.

When they broke the hug, she was frowning in concentration. "Do you think it's because of Future-you and Future-Shinichi-kun?"

"I hope so," Kaito sighed, rubbing at his temples. "Because if it's something else… I really don't want to think about that."

His fiancé seemed to be thinking for a while before murmuring, "Well, then let's get them off of your mind."

"…What?" Kaito asked incredulously. "And how do you propose we do that?"

"We go find them, of course!" Aoko answered as if it were the most obvious solution in the world. Maybe it was… but things were more complicated than what she knew. Seeing them would be dangerous. Doc could lash out at any given moment and potentially kill one of them… As loath as he was to admit it, seeing the clash, however brief, between Doc and Ren had disturbed and terrified him. There was no chance he'd be able to protect Aoko or even himself, should Doc choose to attack them. Hell, he might not even be able to _escape_. No. It was far too dangerous.

"Hell no! Are you even listening to yourself?" he snapped back with a bit more hostility than he'd been aiming for. "Didn't you hear me earlier? Doc is dangerous! He's an immortal schizophrenic murderer! No way am I going back to see him! And there's no way I'm letting you, either!"

Even hearing that, however, Aoko still looked plenty determined. "Doc, huh…? Well, maybe he's just hurting. You said he and Future-Shinichi-kun were fighting, so maybe he needs a friend."

"Aoko, dear, that's not how violent schizophrenia works," Kaito deadpanned. "But you might be onto something… Ren-san mentioned something about Doc being off his meds…"

"So we'll figure out what kind he needs. Then we won't need to worry about that." Aoko seemed happy with that, flashing him a bright smile. "And then we can get the Pandora mission out of the way, too." Oh, Aoko… ever the optimist.

"You're not going to let this rest, are you?"

"Why do you want me to?" she challenged. "Doc's you, well, Future-you. So that means he needs me or Future-me to take care of him, right? And since Future-me's not around, that means I need to help him-you."

"…I… what?" No, seriously, what? It made sense… but well… if something made Doc go crazy, Kaito had a strong feeling it did not bode well for Future-Aoko. Because, frankly, she was his breaking point. If anything happened to her, he wasn't sure how he'd last. And damn it, that brought up a whole other line of worry. With a sigh of resignation, Kaito murmured, "Even if I go to bed, you're probably just going to wander off to look for Doc, aren't you?"

"Most likely," she beamed at him.

The magician gave a noise of irritation and a weak glare. "Why do you do this to me?"

"Because I love you," she returned cheerfully. "Now, come on. We still need to sleep tonight, right?" And with that, she was off.

"Damn it, Aoko, do you even know where to look?" Kaito grumbled, easily catching up to her at the base's main exit.

"Hmm, maybe not," she conceded. "But I have a couple of ideas. I mean, Doc's you, and I know you pretty well by now."

The accusation brought a chill down Kaito's spine. "Hey… can you please stop saying Doc is me? I… You didn't see him… didn't hear what he was saying… didn't… didn't see him fighting Ren-san…" The only thing he could think was 'please don't compare him to me'.

Aoko's arms were around him within seconds and she made an apologetic noise. Though, interestingly enough, she never did vocalize an actual apology. Apparently she still wasn't convinced of Doc's depravity. Well, hopefully meeting him would make her understand… without killing them.

* * *

 _He didn't see much of Kaito the week-or-so after his parents' funeral. Maybe it was for the best. Ran had been pretty irate lately, especially when Kaito was the focus of conversation._

 _Apparently Shinichi had been too verbally abusive, or some such nonsense. Honestly, it was getting on his last good nerve. How could his own_ wife _stand in front of him and say that he was displacing his anger from everyone's deaths onto Kaito? It was ridiculous! Absurd! It was like she wasn't even around when Kaito had_ stated _that the kitsune had told him to kill Hattori! That was far too big of a coincidence for Shinichi's tastes. No, Kaito had to have killed them. And, given the magician was a sly bastard, that left Shinichi one method to obtain the truth. He wasn't abusive; he was just bringing the truth to light._

 _Ran, however, fully believed in Kaito's innocence, which was the root—the bane—of Shinichi's current existence. She claimed that Kaito hadn't moved from Shinichi's side during the incident, and also hadn't made any strange movements. But, Kaito was a magician. He was Kaitou Kid, damn it. If anyone could get past the obstacle of eyewitnesses, it'd be him. Who knew? Maybe Kaito was just jerking them around, preying on their good nature. Maybe it was all a masquerade, a game the magician had started. Maybe he was pulling Ran in on it as well and sharing a great laugh behind Shinichi's back. The detective grit his teeth in agitation._

 _He wasn't going to lie: the idea of kicking that bastard magician out to the streets sounded better and better every day. But, then there was also the paranoia that maybe that's exactly what Kaito wanted. Maybe he was screwing with Shinichi's head, pushing limits that ought not be pushed. So, if he were to be kicked out, maybe he'd actually win. That was unacceptable._

 _And, of course, the bastard had started to 'hide' from him more and more as well. Damn coward would always hide behind Ran, and if she weren't around, he'd somehow get loose and end up at Ryouichi's house. It was embarrassing beyond belief and absolutely infuriating to play those games with him. Kaito was a grown man—sick or not—and he needed to damn well act like a man. If he had a problem, then he needed to speak up, not run off. And thinking of running off, lately he'd been outright refusing to take his medicine when Shinichi offered it to him. There were even a couple of times where he'd had to force Kaito to swallow his pills… neither of them had enjoyed that._

 _Maybe the only good thing that came from all the tragedy lately was that Agasa, Shiho, and sometimes Sera came by more often. It was helpful, because lately he'd been burying himself in his work and Ran had other things to do. So, the three had (mercifully) agreed to look after Kaito while Shinichi and Ran were away. It didn't hurt that while Shinichi_ was _around, they tended to be much better conversation than Kaito had been in quite some time. Thankfully everyone seemed to take everything in-stride. Well, either that or Kaito had them in on the ruse as well. But, as much as Shiho liked to scare, taunt, or tease him, Shinichi was pretty sure she wouldn't pull anything quite this tasteless on him._

 _Agasa and Shiho were house-sitting for him today, he remembered as he walked the familiar street back home. As he entered the front door, he heard snippets of conversation coming from the kitchen, though; he couldn't quite make out the words. Whoever was speaking was probably mumbling… Kaito probably. The voice completely cut out when Shinichi called out that he was home, and he also heard what sounded like a chair hitting the floor. Wonderful._

 _Shinichi sighed and headed over to the room in question. As he entered, he found Shiho offering Kaito an unimpressed look while Agasa was using a hand to hold the magician's shoulder. "…I clearly missed something," the detective muttered, stopping near the trio._

 _"Welcome home, Shinichi-kun," the professor greeted warmly, though he didn't remove his hand from Kaito's shoulder. Shiho glanced over and offered the detective a nod of greeting before moving her gaze back to the magician._

 _"Kuroba-kun," Shiho said, exasperation clear in her tone, "nothing will change if you run away. Kudou-kun may be a lot of things, but he isn't unreasonable. Just tell him."_

 _"Hmm?" Shinichi vocalized, curious. There wasn't much said between himself and Kaito, after all. Might as well hear him out if he was willing to speak._

 _"I…" the magician started, moving his gaze from the floor to Shinichi and then back to the floor. "…No… can't do it. S-sorry… Sorry…" By the end of his statement Kaito was noticeably shaking. Before Shinichi could ask what he meant, Kaito shook free from Agasa's grasp and fled upstairs._

 _"…What was that?" Shinichi asked, blinking in confusion. Was Kaito afraid of him? No, that didn't make sense. But, well, Kaito had been a lot more skittish around him lately… He was definitely afraid of something._

 _"It might be a good time to change prescriptions, Kudou-kun," Shiho informed, eyes moving back to Kaito's escape route. "It seems that his hallucinations are getting worse."_

 _"What? But he's been on his meds. He was getting better!" Shinichi exclaimed, slamming a fist on the table._

 _"And now he's getting worse," the biochemist calmly replied. "It happens." Apparently noticing the disbelieving look Shinichi was giving her, she elaborated, "He's built up a tolerance to the antipsychotic, Kudou-kun. It's not terribly uncommon for something like that to happen, either."_

 _Shinichi winced. Tolerance… right. That… actually made sense. But why so suddenly? Or was it sudden? Honestly… he hadn't been paying Kaito much attention lately, out of frustration and the desire to bury himself in work so that he didn't have to think about everything that had been happening… All of the anger from earlier dissipated and was quickly replaced by an ill feeling. He'd been completely ignoring this…_

 _"R-right," Shinichi nodded. "I… whatever we need to do. I just don't want him backsliding… we've made progress..."_

 _"I am by no means an expert," Shiho began with a sigh, "but try to keep him away from too much stimulation for a while. Schizophrenics often have dopamine supersensitivity… and sometimes the antipsychotics can make it worse. Right now, he's probably overstimulated, which could explain the timidity and hallucinations."_

 _"…Understood. Thanks for letting me know, Shiho. Kaito… doesn't tell me anything. I'm kind of left in the dark on what he's going through." Shinichi admitted, looking down at his feet._ And I'm also supposed to be his guardian. Great job, Kudou.

 _The woman in question nodded. Agasa offered him a slight smile. "Shinichi-kun, I think you're doing the best you can. If you ever need some time to yourself, just let one of us know, okay? We'd be happy to take Kaito-kun for a few days if you need it."_

 _Shinichi nodded, keeping his gaze low. "Thanks guys… I've really been screwing this up, haven't I? No wonder Ran and Hattori were always telling me to re-house Kaito…"_

 _A large hand fell on Shinichi's shoulder and slightly squeezed it. "No one can handle everything alone, you know. That's why we're here. And," the professor continued, voice gentle, "you've been through a lot in such a short amount of time… There's no shame in taking a break."_

 _"I… I think I'll need that," Shinichi admitted meekly. "After the weekend, if you can?" he asked, a mix between hopeful and ashamed. He should've been able to handle this…_

 _Agasa gave his shoulder another small squeeze and murmured, "Of course."_

 _"If you'd like, we can try to get Kuroba-kun to talk to you," Shiho offered. "It might help both of you."_

 _She was right. The strained silence wasn't doing anything good for anyone. All it was doing was creating a rift between Shinichi and the others in the manor and giving them a huge mess of misunderstanding. Yeah, it was a problem that needed addressed. The detective nodded and soon the trio was at Kaito's bedroom door. Before they had a chance to do more than knock, there was a surprised shout—no, that was terror—and the sound of breaking glass, followed by something heavy landing far away._

 _"O-oi! Kaito! What-what the hell was that?!" Shinichi exclaimed, pushing the door and finding it firmly locked. With a growl, Shinichi and Agasa forced the door open. Upon entering the room, the detective found it in disarray. Bed sheets were strewn about as though the magician had been throwing them at something, the closet door was barricaded with some of the room's other furnishings, there were even what looked to be claw-marks on the wall… And when had Kaito brought one of the kitchen's chef's knives up here? Finally, his attention was drawn to the broken window just to the right of the bed. Not a small hole…_ Oh… shit.

 _Without waiting on his houseguests, Shinichi bolted downstairs and outside, quickly finding Kaito unconscious and face down on the ground, surrounded by shards of glass. There was no blood, but small red-electric sparks worked their way across the magician's face, neck, and arms._ The sparks again? _The sparks tended to show up whenever Kaito was injured and seemed to heal whatever wounds he had. It was probably a consequence of using Pandora… Though, all they'd had to test on had been relatively small wounds, so the full extent of it was… questionable?_

 _For the briefest of moments, Shinichi felt a wave of despair as he felt for a pulse. Nothing? Did Kaito actually…? But he was still breathing? When Kaito groaned and started to push himself up, the detective let out a sigh of relief and helped him up. "I guess that's what they meant by immortal…"_

 _The glare Kaito sent his way was enough to freeze Hell over and it froze Shinichi in-place. The magician then jerked out of Shinichi's grasp and backed off several steps, looking disheveled and almost feral. "_ What _did you say?" he spat._

Did… did I say that out loud…? _Shinichi thought, taking a step back defensively. "Are you okay? You took quite a fall there…"_

 _"That's_ not _what you said," the magician growled, taking an aggressive step forward. Shinichi took another step back._

 _"Hey… I don't want to fight. Let's just calm down, okay?" This probably wouldn't end well._

 _"Then_ say it _," the magician hissed._

 _Taking a deep breath, Shinichi calmly (or at least, he hoped) said, "I said, 'I guess that's what they meant by immortal'. But I didn't mean to come off as—"_

 _He never got the chance to finish that statement. Kaito's fist was in his face before he could even react, knocking him off-balance. When he opened his eyes again, hand over his cheek and nose, Kaito coldly stated, "They were right. They were_ right _! You did this on purpose! You_ did this on purpose! _"the magician howled, shaking. "I-I… I hate you, Kudou! I despise you! This is all your fault! Why did you do this to me?!"_

 _The declaration badly shocked Shinichi. It hadn't been a decision he'd made lightly. If he would've known what would've happened, he… would he have done it, still?_

* * *

Ren woke with a start, eyes scanning the dark room as quickly as he could manage; ears perked and hyperaware of the sounds around him. However, it appeared that nothing had changed since he'd fallen asleep. Nothing surrounded him but the silhouettes of various chairs, the table, and tools that had been scattered about the room. No sounds could be heard beyond the muffled sounds of the Tokyo night and Doc's uneven, off-rhythm breathing. So whatever it was had woken him as well?

"You heard that… right?" Doc asked timidly, far too timidly for Ren's comfort, actually.

Ren offered a slight hum to acknowledge the question and once more listened to his surroundings. Though, much like before, he couldn't make out any strange noises. Doc was probably starting to hallucinate again… they always were the worst at night. If they were planning on staying for long, it would probably do them both good to get some olanzapine or risperidone, or _some_ other antipsychotic in Doc's system. Frankly, as long as there was something to mellow the immortal out, Ren would be satisfied. "No," Ren finally answered. "I don't hear anything."

"R-really?" Doc whimpered. "But it's getting closer…! How can't you hear it?"

There really wasn't much point in contesting further with him, which left Ren with two options: stay put and wait for Doc to stop hallucinating (which could possibly take hours), or go check out the "sound" to ease his mind. Either way, it would just be an appeasement tactic. The chances of anyone intruding on them here of all places was extremely low. "What do you want me to do, Doc?" Ren asked with far more patience than he felt so late into the night.

"Can… can we check it out together…? S-since you can't hear it…" Whatever he was hearing must be pretty terrifying if it reduced Doc to a cowering mess like this. Hopefully he wasn't going to have the kitsune hallucination tonight. Ren could deal with the corpses, but he could barely even keep Doc's attention while the kitsune was "about".

"Sure," Ren agreed, holding back a sigh as he forced his weary body up. He offered a hand for Doc, but, dishearteningly enough, the immortal looked away and got up on his own. After several moments of no movement, Ren let out his sigh and murmured, "Follow me, then." He led the way through the entirety of the bolt-hole with Doc close behind. As expected, there were the minimal furnishings and tools that had been strewn about the walls and little else (though, apparently Kaito hadn't been using this particular hideout for a while, given the mice they found). But, despite now having clear evidence that there was nothing there with them, Doc continued to let out muffled whimpers every now and then. His only assumption was that maybe the immortal had heard something without notifying him. "Hey, you didn't hear or see anything, did you?"

"…No… But it's here. I know it. Getting closer…" Great. So somehow it was here, even though it wasn't here, and was somehow getting closer… whatever "it" was. On the whole, Ren probably wouldn't have been any worse off not asking.

"Well, is it outside?" Going back to sleep would be fantastic right about now. There was nothing inside, despite Doc's claim, and he wouldn't be capable of hearing anything terribly distinct from outside, hallucinations or not. Again, this was urban Tokyo.

"I don't know…" Doc shook his head and moved his gaze to his feet. "It… it's probably nothing. Probably just in my head… right? Not real?"

Ren sighed and placed a hand on the immortal's shoulder (though Doc shied away from the contact almost immediately). Sometimes, it just wasn't worthwhile being the reality check. "I haven't heard or seen anything, Kaito. Well, aside from the mice."

"Oh… okay," Doc murmured, sounding discouraged and keeping his eyes on the floor. "I don't think I'll be able to sleep anymore tonight… You sleep if you want. I'll wake you up when it's time to go…" With that, the smaller man slunk off into the darkness, apparently done with Ren for now, despite his evident anxiety. And wasn't _that_ just encouraging? Ungrateful jerk. Well, at least he looked like he was going to hang around the hideout. That was probably for the best.

But, that left Ren with another decision: to sleep or not to sleep. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He could either do the smart thing and sleep, or do the considerate thing and stay up with Doc. Either way, Doc might have another episode. If he was awake, he could at least defend himself and flee if necessary. If he was asleep… well, he'd be dead. And that was his answer, unfortunately. Looks like he'd have to find a way to soothe Doc before either of them could get any rest.

As he turned to follow Doc, he heard quiet murmurs and soft footsteps approaching the entrance. Sounded like there were a minimum of two intruders he'd have to deal with… though why they were showing up here of all places at this awful time was far beyond Ren. It didn't really matter, though, in the grand scheme of things; Ren would just send them on their way before Doc found out about them.

Silently, so silently that he could've rivaled Kaitou Kid himself, Ren crept through the darkness and kept himself pressed against the entryway's wall, just out of sight from the oncoming intruders. It probably wouldn't take much to send them on their way. Just a simple show of strength and a few threats and they'd probably run off. No one would have to get hurt and Doc wouldn't have to get involved.

As soon as they opened the door, Ren whirled around, grabbed one of them, and trapped them against him with a chokehold. There was a masculine yelp from the one he grabbed, followed by a feminine gasp, "K-Kaito!" Huh? That voice… he hadn't heard it in quite some time… Ran? No. That wasn't right. This voice was different from what he remembered. Then... Aoko?

 _What a farce,_ Ren sighed, withdrawing his arm from Kaito's throat and pushing the magician back toward his fiancé. "What the hell are you doing here?" the old detective asked with an exasperated sigh. _Hopefully Doc didn't hear any of that…_ This night just went from bad to worse. "I told you not to come after us."

The magician rubbed at his throat before answering quietly, sounding very much like he didn't want to be here, "Aoko's idea, not mine." Kaito received a glare from the girl in question. "But, since we're here, I figure it might be a good chance to figure out what the hell's going on here. Not every day your future-selves randomly crop up, ne?" he asked with a slight shrug.

Again, Ren gave a long sigh. "You're just going to keep bothering us about that until something slips, aren't you?" Although Kaito did nothing to affirm or deny the accusation, the glint in his eye was more than answer enough. The old detective rubbed at his temples and led the two of them out of the bolt-hole. There was no need for Doc to get involved with this. Especially not when Aoko was around. That would either lead to overwhelming joy (which was bad) or overwhelming distress (which was worse), and that would have some adverse effect on Kaito and Aoko… probably. Once they were safely away from the entrance and just around a far corner of the hideout, Ren murmured, "If you've got questions, ask now."

"Was there something wrong with the old hideout?" Kaito inquired. "It's not exactly safe to hang around on the streets, being us, you realize. Pesky crows all over the place." Right. Although Ren wasn't entirely certain what would happen if someone got killed by accident, he really didn't want to find out anytime soon. He'd have to be on alert.

"Sorry," Ren muttered, looking back to the part of the building that Doc was likely hiding in, "Er… _he's_ there."

"Doc?" Kaito asked, slightly frowning. He tapped Aoko on the shoulder when the girl made some move to turn to where Ren had been looking. "I see. So you found him, huh?"

Ren scratched at the side of his neck. "So did you guys," he pointed out. "It's not hard if you know where to look."

"So, who are you protecting by separating us from him?" Kaito drawled, yawning. "You seem pretty worried."

"Does it really matter?" Ren countered. "I'm doing everyone a favor by doing this. Anyway, I thought he scared you, Kaito-kun." He didn't mean to sound condescending, but he really wanted them gone. They didn't know how close to an episode Doc was…

"He… makes me incredibly uncomfortable, yes," Kaito acknowledged, scratching at his cheek. "But," he continued with a sigh, "Aoko thinks she can help him, so I got dragged along for the ride."

"Kaito!" Aoko chastised, lightly punching his arm. "Um… I just figured… maybe your Kaito was hurting. Maybe I could help him feel better... you know?" Whether it was a trick of the light or just his own weariness messing with his vision, he could've sworn he saw Ran in Aoko, if only for a second. That concern… those eyes… her long brown hair slightly carried by the breeze… It broke his heart to think of that. "H-hey, Ren-san! Are you okay?"

Coming back to his senses and finally seeing the woman in front of him as Aoko again, Ren rubbed his eyes and grunted, "I'm fine. Look, I really would rather you not see Doc, but you'll probably just sneak by me when I'm trying to sleep or something, anyway. Let's just move things along so I can sleep."

"Thank you, Ren-san," Aoko said, grateful. "Sorry for bothering you guys so late in the night…"

"Uh-huh, whatever. Just don't blame me when you don't like what you see." He was pretty sure Kaito started glaring at him for his dismissal, but Ren was tired. It didn't really matter. He led the two inside and to the room he felt Doc went to.

A scream cut through the night. Doc! Oh shit, not now! "YOU'RE NOT REAL!" Doc's voice screeched, somewhat breaking halfway through. Oblivious to the darkness, Ren dashed over to Doc's side. The immortal was cowering close to the floor and… there was… something extremely large and malicious right next to them… The Pandora sparks were dancing over the entirety of Doc's abdomen as well… Why…? Just why? Ren braced himself and Doc once more screeched (did it have to be in Ren's ear?!) "YOU'RE NOT REAL!"

The lights flashed on, with Past-Kaito and Aoko at the light switch. Ren really wished he hadn't run in so bull-headedly. Towering above himself and Doc was approximately two meters of bipedal kitsune. Its pelt was full of reds, grays, and whites that ended in a number (four?) of tails. Its eyes gleamed (practically _glowed_ ) a deep crimson. And its claws and fangs were bared and extremely sharp. It watched him as if it were calculating something in its mind before turning its attention back to Doc and smirking. "I'm not real, eh?" it asked in a menacing baritone. "Then do something for me, eh, Corpse? Take a real good look around you. This is all real. This place is real. This _time_ is real. Kudou's certainly real," it said, offering the detective a fanged Cheshire grin. "Those injuries of yours and those _sparks_ are real, right?" When Doc didn't reply, the fox growled and stomped. " _Well_ , Corpse?! They're all real, right?!"

"I…They… Urk… Sh-Shinichi…?" Doc asked, looking desperate. "It's fake right? _Right?!_ "

What could he say? What could he possibly say to that? _"Oh yeah, so I guess it was real. Sorry 'bout that"_? Definitely not. But denying the truth when it stood tall and malicious in front of you was a great way to get killed.

"Well, Kudou?" the monster continued grinning, probably taking all of this as some kind of joke. "Am I real enough for you? If not, I'm sure I can persuade you otherwise."

"Don't just stand there, you idiots!" Kaito yelled, shooting at the fox with his card gun. The metallic card buried itself in the fox's thigh and it snarled, ripping it out. The red sparks showed up. And now its attention was on Past-Kaito. It was official. Whatever gods existed _hated_ Ren with a passion.

"I'll get to you when I get to you, Boy!" the beast growled. "Right now, it's Kudou's turn to suffer." Yep. He was hated. Despised. The world had officially fallen onto Ren's shoulders. Though right now might be a bad time to ask the gods to just kill him already.

"Why me?" Ren weakly croaked, helping Doc up and guiding the immortal away… slowly. He drew his gun just in case, but was pretty certain it wouldn't help him in this fight. If it sparked like Doc, then it was probably immortal too.

"Maybe because you gave me twenty years of prison, eh? _Twenty years_ of sitting and fuming, lamenting my fate." It answered, balling a clawed hand into a fist and swiping a tail in irritation.

"What…? I've never even seen you before today!" Ren defended.

"I am Pandora. And you _used me_."

* * *

 _How was it set loose...? This wasn't supposed to happen._


	6. An Odd Alliance

_Sorry for the massive delay on this chapter. Er... life got in the way? I actually really like this chapter. Oh, and I'm probably going to bump the rating on this story. Er, there's a certain limit to death, mayhem, and vulgar language that fits in the T-rating. I'm pretty sure I'm going to exceed it, if I haven't already._

 _Thanks everyone for all the views, reviews, favorites, and follows this story has received! I'm kind of surprised everyone's not tearing down my walls for killing off the vast majority of the cast... But, hey, that's why there's a poll on my page, right? After all, there are many outcomes available, but only one true end._

 _Warnings: There will be violence, which is vastly overshadowed by blatant vulgar language sprinkled throughout the first half of the chapter._

* * *

That… thing was Pandora?! Kaito felt a wave of dread pass through him at the scene. The monster fox, although not terribly massive nor a nine-tailed fox, was still tall, menacing, and clearly angry. Why was it that every time he thought a situation couldn't get worse, it did?!

The magician quickly moved Aoko behind him and tried to urge her to flee while the beast's attention was on Doc and Ren. There was absolutely no reason they needed to stay for this, after all. Pandora wasn't… this wasn't _their_ Pandora! No point in getting hurt by _Doc's_ problems.

As he tried to gently push and urge Aoko out, she, although shaking, held her ground. "We can't just leave them!" she quietly urged, keeping a hand on his arm.

"Well, Kudou?" the fox asked, mockingly. "What's the matter? Can't get Corpse to move, eh? Tough luck there." It approached the future duo slowly, enjoying the look of pale shock on Ren's face and the sheer panic on Doc's.

"Aoko," Kaito whispered back, just as urgently, "there's no way in hell we can fight this thing off! If it can just shrug off and heal any injury thrown at it, then our chances are zero. We have to _run_!"

"But… Doc and Ren-san…" she said, trying to sway him. It wasn't working.

"This is _their_ problem, Aoko," he hissed. " _We_ have nothing to do with it. Now, come on. We need to get out of here before we get ourselves killed."

A gunshot rang out, catching the couple's attention. The fox had Doc and Ren backed into a corner and was far too close for comfort. Even the bullet hadn't done much to deter the monster. Instead, all it did was let out a growl followed by a laugh. "That's it, isn't it? That's all you've got? Heh! I almost forgot how pathetic humans really are!" As if on cue, Doc let out a pathetic whimper and hid his face behind the back of Ren's jacket. "Oh, shut _up_ , Corpse! God, you're pathetic! 'Someone help me, I'm being chased by monsters all night!' Bah! No one cares and no one will care. You're all alone. Just like Kudou here. Alone and _dead_."

"Damn it!" Ren growled, firing several more shots, taking the monster by surprise as the bullets lodged into its head, throat, and where Kaito could only assume its kidneys would be… (assuming it had those.) Pandora reared back, shaking off the unexpected onslaught as the red sparks obscured its vision. The old detective didn't waste any time dragging Doc out of the corner and running to the door with him. "What are you idiots waiting for? That's _not_ going to stall him much longer!"

" _Thanks_ ," Kaito shot back icily. Even so, he fell in step with Ren and Doc, keeping Aoko's hand in his as they fled the building.

They fled blindly into the night, passing all of the nearby buildings and making their way beyond the city lights. He didn't bother to look behind him, but Kaito was certain that the fox was still after them. If it held that much of a grudge against Ren, they didn't have much hope of truly escaping it until they were far, far away.

As the last of the buildings faded from sight, Doc abruptly stopped, setting Ren off-balance. The immortal was still shaking, but had turned back to watch as the fox caught up to him. Although Kaito was tempted to keep on running, Aoko, once again, stopped him. What was _with_ her tonight?!

"Doc, what the fuck, man?!" Ren growled, readying his gun again, and replacing the spent ammo.

"…We won't get anywhere by running," Doc said with a strange, almost tranquil voice. The immortal slid sharpened pipes out from his sleeves and waited, eyes never leaving their approaching enemy.

"And we can't get anywhere by fighting, either, dumbass!" Ren countered sharply. "That thing's immortal! The entire fight's pointless!"

"Then leave it to me. I'm master of pointless things," Doc answered in a sad whisper, though there was a strange note of resolve budding. "Anyway…. The only one allowed to kill you is _me_."

Ren sighed. "I take it you want me to get these two out of here, right?"

"…Huh?" the immortal asked, glancing over and apparently noticing Kaito and Aoko for the first time. The look on his face morphed from shock to anger to something Kaito couldn't name. It wasn't happy, though. "What the _fuck_ are you two doing here?" Doc hissed, shakiness starting to finally leave him.

"We wanted to make sure you were okay," Aoko helpfully supplied, looking uncertain for the first time since they'd come. Gee, and all _that_ took was a monster fox.

"Stopped running, eh?" came the fox's voice, cold and menacing. "Good. Time to end this."

"What are you waiting for?" Doc snarled back at them. "Run away! This is… this is my fight!" So those words weren't just for them, but Ren as well? It would probably be better to have an immortal fighting an immortal… but was Doc really up for the task? He still seemed far too shaky to be of any real use here.

Pandora also seemed to take the declaration as a joke. "Really, Corpse? _You're_ going to save them? What about Ghost, or Angel, or Sera, Hakuba, Miyano, Agasa, Konosuke, Nakamori? You certainly couldn't protect any of them," it said with a grin. "And let's not forget that you outright murdered a good number of your friends, too!" Pandora continued with a note of glee. Doc turned his head toward the ground at the words. "Now see, Corpse? I don't need to fight you to win here. So be a good little whipping boy and get the fuck out of my way."

The fox took several steps closer, but Doc didn't budge. Strangely enough, even his shaking had completely died away. When Pandora reached for the immortal's throat, Doc completely vanished from sight, only to reappear behind the fox and plunge both pipes into its neck and back.

"I won't let them down again," Doc said quietly, but resolutely, pulling two more pipes from his sleeves.

"Grah! H-how?!" Pandora growled, apparently taken off-guard by Doc's disappearing act. Even Kaito had no idea how the immortal could have managed to just completely vanish from sight and avoid all physical contact while being that close to Pandora. It didn't make sense… it was almost like he'd teleported…

"I'm not brave anymore," Doc admitted, stabbing at more of the fox's joints and subsequently preventing it from moving, despite the red sparks. "But I learned a lot while you weren't around. Time and space… they're my playthings. You're going to have to try harder than that to best me." Pandora's only response was an outraged roar, before Doc slid a larger pipe out from his pant-leg and jammed it through the fox's snout, effectively sealing its mouth shut. "I… honestly expected something more… I don't know… terrifying… misery-inducing… something more, I guess. You're pretty weak, aren't you? Or just too stupid. Guess I shouldn't have been so afraid of you, huh?"

The paralyzed monster shook with rage, but could do nothing more. It seemed the red sparks wouldn't push the pipes out on their own, even if they would keep the monster alive.

"That was…" Kaito couldn't even articulate that thought. _Holy shit, Doc's strong._

"Damn," Ren offered an appreciative whistle. "Great job, there."

Doc just shook his head and sighed. "You realize that's all of my pipes, right?"

"Right," Ren nodded, "but can't you get more somewhere in this time?"

The immortal sent Ren a withering glare. "Mine are special. Symbolic. And I'm not wasting the knife on anyone here's worthless blood."

At the word 'knife', Ren very noticeably paled and took a step back. Apparently that knife had been used on the old detective at some point. Either that, or he'd seen too many friends fall because of it. Either way, the knife was not something Kaito figured he'd want to see. "R-right," Ren stammered, offering a placating gesture. "So… uh… What do we do with…?"

"Gotta let him go," Doc answered, clearly unhappy about it. Not that anyone could blame him, of course.

If it was possible to look smug while looking like a pincushion, Pandora managed it.

"You've got to be kidding me," Kaito said, shooting both of the future duo a withering glare. "Wouldn't that completely defeat the purpose of pin cushioning it?"

"Kaito," Aoko whispered, nudging him with her elbow, "I don't think we're really in a position to argue…"

"Why would I joke about something this important?" Doc asked, clearly seeing no other way to continue short of freeing Pandora. And wasn't that a terrifying thought?

"So you'd let a monster roam free just to get some damn pipes back? Are you crazy?" the magician shouted, catching Ren making a gesture to 'cut it out' from the corner of his eye. No. He would _not_ let Doc free that thing!

The immortal made an expression that Kaito couldn't read. All he knew was that he'd definitely said something offensive and that he'd be smart to just follow Ren's advice. Aoko must've caught the gestures as well, given her slightly paled face and the additional strength placed in her grip on his arm. So she finally saw what he'd seen from the start: Doc was dangerous.

"You don't want to make an enemy of me," Doc said, voice cold enough to bring a wave of cold fear crashing down on Kaito. The immortal placed a hand over his face and took in a few deep breaths. "Shut up… shut up… go away… go away… not real… You're not real… Leave me alone!"

Kaito took a step back with Aoko in-tow. Now was as good a time as ever to get the hell out of this place. Ren moved in front of them, however, slowly but steadily blocking them out of Doc's vision. "You two get out of here, okay?" he whispered, keeping his eyes on the immortal. "I'll calm him down. We'll figure out what to do about Pandora later."

Somehow, this didn't feel reassuring. Ren was already willing to go along with Doc's crazy idea of letting the monster fox go. That meant that there would be no discussion, nor any other form of compromise. The two of them would set an unkillable monstrosity upon this time if someone didn't step up… and as much as he hated the idea of being that person, there weren't any other options. The magician shook his head. "No."

"No?" Ren echoed, confused. "Don't you get that Doc could kill you without remorse? _Both_ of you. Why stay? What do you hope to gain from this?"

Kaito balled a hand into a fist. "If… If I let you do what you want… that thing will be roaming free. I can't believe you'd actually let that happen, but… I won't let it. I won't let you."

The old detective looked down, but nodded. "I understand. You want to protect your time. Your home. Your friends. If I can help, I will. I promise."

Kaito let out a breath of relief at Ren's words. He understood. He was on their side. Something was going right, for once. "Thank you."

The old detective took in a deep breath and walked over to Doc. "Hey," he started, slowly placing a hand on the immortal's shoulder. When there was no resistance, he continued, "Listen to me, Doc, okay? We'll take care of this nice and slow, okay?"

"They're here, Ren," Doc's voice broke halfway through. "Everyone's here." He looked about ready to cry. Was Doc hallucinating? Well, was he hallucinating their friends? Or was it something more sinister? He sounded so discouraged, looked so ashamed… His hand also wandered to what was likely an inner pocket of his jacket.

"The corpses?" Ren asked, gradually drawing Doc closer to him, but wary of the immortal's wandering hand. "Hey… it'll be okay. You know they're not real."

"How can you say that?" Doc challenged morbidly. "You were wrong about the kitsune. And you couldn't even admit it… How can I trust you?"

How the immortal went from deadly serious to a miserable heap in so little time, Kaito wasn't certain. But what he did know was that the immediate danger had passed. Aoko let go of his arm and slowly made her way over to Doc. Her approach was timid, like she expected the immortal to attack at any moment. Maybe he would. Kaito approached just as slowly, ready to help his fiancé out if anything went pear-shaped on them.

Doc didn't move. Didn't react as Aoko brought him into a timid embrace. Well, maybe he was wrong about Doc not reacting to that. The immortal's face was turned to the ground and it was dark out, but Kaito could've sworn he saw tears streaming down Doc's face.

"…Please… just stop…" Doc pleaded, avoiding hugging her back. Ren looked surprised. Kaito wasn't sure what he felt about this. All he knew was that if Doc made any moves, he'd pay dearly for them. When Aoko refused to let go, Doc vanished from sight, leaving her arms to fall on empty air. The immortal reappeared several steps away from her, looking almost as though Aoko had just beaten him.

"Doc?" Aoko asked, looking back to him. "What happened to your Aoko? Are you okay?"

Instead of answering, Doc asked quietly, "Why do you care? You have Kaito… and your friends. Why does it matter what happened to my Aoko? Why does it matter if I'm okay?"

His fiancé paused for a moment, but seemed to gain a bit more confidence that Doc was going to remain harmless. "It matters because you're Kaito, no matter what time you came from," Aoko said with an encouraging smile. "It doesn't matter if you're mine or not; Kaito is always Kaito."

Kaito blinked. That was some interesting logic, he supposed. But people changed over time. What used to be Kaito was now Doc. What used to be a magician was now a murderer. Doc wasn't Kaito, not anymore.

Doc looked down and murmured, "My Aoko died a long, _long_ time ago. Twenty years ago… on the same Pandora retrieval mission you two are about to go on in the morning."

Kaito felt ice in his veins. Like he'd been kicked in the gut. _Aoko_ dies _on this mission? Shit…! Then what do I do? W-wait! Doc's not entirely credible. Maybe he has it wrong?_ Kaito shot a look at Ren, hoping the old detective would offer him any way to negate Doc's statement. When Ren glanced over at him, however, he shot Kaito a sympathetic look and nodded. Without even thinking, he snarled, "Why didn't you do anything?! Why didn't you save her?!"

Rather than get upset or withdraw, Doc murmured with a bitter smile, "I tried. I died first. I bought Aoko and Akako time to run… But there's only so much I could do against Gin, Vodka, and Rum all in one place. I didn't last long. Heh," he continued with an equally bitter laugh, "Got shot in the lungs, collapsed, and since they were compromised, they blew the building sky-high with everyone still in it. Before I could suffocate, some broken piping fell from above and ended me. I think I got buried in debris at some point… not that it mattered. Woke up in the medical room at the base… I guess they still completed the mission without us. I guess Ren dug me out while I was still fresh-kill and used Pandora on me. I don't know, but it seems to be the case."

"Yeah," Ren murmured, fixing his eyes on the ground. "You nailed it. If it's any consolation, sorry for resurrecting you."

Doc looked profoundly annoyed at the statement. " _Sorry_ doesn't change anything. Pull your weight while we're here."

"Hey, Doc?" Aoko started quietly. "Thank you for trying so hard to save me."

Whatever leftover irritation remained from Ren's statement vanished in a heartbeat. Doc shook his head and morosely murmured, "Don't thank me. I failed you fourteen times over. Only saved you once."

"H-hold on a second!" Ren exclaimed. "You… you time-traveled _fourteen times_?!"

"Well…" Doc sighed, counting something on his fingers before continuing. "There's the original timeline that we're from… and the fifteen timelines I made using the mirror and gem. Er… this one is the fifteenth… just so you know. So… I guess there are technically sixteen timelines that I've been involved with."

 _S-sixteen?_ Kaito thought, feeling himself start to pale. _Doc's done this sixteen times and only saved Aoko_ once _? Oh man… this isn't good._

There was a sickening sound of something sliding through flesh and bone before Kaito looked to see his future counterpart pulling the pipe out of Pandora's snout. Apparently he'd used their shock as a distraction so that he could reclaim his pipes.

"Hey! Stop it, Doc!" Ren exclaimed, though the old detective avoided moving any closer.

The red sparks sealed the wounds in Pandora's snout before the monster gave a snort. "About damn time. I take it you want something," the fox concluded, looking supremely unimpressed.

"Yeah," Doc answered. "You help us fix the timeline and you get your freedom."

"Fine," Pandora answered. "Now get the rest of these damn pipes out of my spine. I'm wasting magic and it's pissing me off."

Doc took a moment to slide his reclaimed pipe back into his pant-leg before grabbing at another and following the same pattern until he'd removed all of the pipes from Pandora. The red sparks finally slowed and stopped completely as Doc took several steps back.

"You realize when all of this is over, Corpse, I'm going to torture you to death, don't you?" Pandora asked, glaring at the human immortal.

"Mhm," Doc answered, moving to block the fox's fastest route to Kaito and Aoko. "I'm counting on it, actually." With a smile, he murmured, "I'd be eternally grateful to anyone that could wipe me out of existence." The smile vanished. "Too bad it's impossible, even for you."

"You _dare_ challenge my power?" Pandora growled, noticeably insulted. In a flash of claws, a spray of blood and red sparks obscured Doc's neck as the immortal fell onto the ground. Soon the sparks overtook the blood and Doc sat up, rubbing at his throat. The fox's ears fell slightly. "No way…! Damn you, Kuroba! Damn you! How _dare_ you abuse _my_ power!"

"I'm not," Doc answered from his position on the ground, still rubbing at his now-healed throat. "It's an automatic thing, I think… You can't kill me and I can't kill you... We're at an eternal stalemate until we change time."

"Che! Guess there's no choice, then," Pandora growled. "Lucky you, to have such a powerful ally."

"Thanks…" Doc offered meekly. "We have to keep everyone alive, though…"

"Hmph. Fine. Anything to be rid of you."

Finally getting off of the ground, Doc murmured, "And that's that… You guys need to get some sleep. We'll… be around in the morning. We'll be the backup you wanted…"

Kaito blinked, taken off-guard by the sudden turnaround. So the guys from the future were planning to be their backup? It felt weird, yet he couldn't really sense any deception. Unless Doc was just that good at lying, that must've been their plan from the get-go. The magician nodded. Aoko turned to the three and gratefully said, "Thank you guys! See you tomorrow!"

Before they got too far away, however, they heard Doc's voice. "Beware the traitor." Looking back, they saw the trio leaving, likely back to the bolt-hole. None of them looked happy. Doc stopped one more time. "Oh… That thing about time-space from earlier… it was a lie. I took a shortcut in time… I can't bend time and space to my will, though… so don't die." With that, the three finally vanished into the darkness of the night.

"That was just…" Kaito started, though he couldn't quite find a word to describe everything they'd encountered within the few hours they'd been out. They'd encountered his and Shinichi's future selves, saw Pandora as a monster rather than a gemstone, and were told that everyone, unstable and untrustworthy though they were, was planning to help them on the mission tomorrow. Yeah… He wasn't really sure if there was a good word for that.

"I'm really glad that they're going to help us out," Aoko said with a smile. The two of them started off back toward the base. Whether it had been intentional or not, the chase had led them within a few kilometers of the underground hideout. It'd take a little while to get there, but Kaito, at least, needed the cool-down time to think things over.

"…I'm not," Kaito muttered under his breath. While it was good to have the information about how miserably Doc's mission had turned out, what good would it do them to have an immortal schizophrenic, a pushover detective, and a monster on their side? All it would take was one of them acting out-of-line and the entire operation would be in jeopardy. They were more trouble than they were worth. Why couldn't Aoko see that?

Aoko blew out a puff of air. "Geez Kaito, you're such a downer," she joked.

"In case you didn't hear earlier," Kaito snapped, voice nothing but serious, "you _died_ in Doc's timeline! You died in a _lot_ of timelines! This is dangerous, Aoko."

"It's always been dangerous, Kaito," she retorted, head held high. "Just another day for us, right? And anyway, I trust Doc and the others to keep us safe."

"But how?" the magician asked, baffled. Hadn't they seen the same things? "How can you trust him? I mean, we just saw him 'take a shortcut' and paralyze a monster within seconds. Mind you, this is the same guy that also is emotionally unstable and very likely to hallucinate on the job."

"I'd probably hallucinate a lot, too, if I was stuck with a monster for years after losing you," she said simply, as if her words held no weight at all. "Doc's just… sad and lonely. I bet the longer he sticks around us, the better he'll get."

"That's _not_ how that works, Aoko," Kaito groaned, running a hand through his hair.

"Well look at it this way, then," Aoko said, smile still present. "Even if Doc's got a few screws loose, he's still got Ren-san to help keep him under control," Kaito interrupted her with a snort of derision, which she ignored, "and he's also got Pandora-san to keep him on-track, too."

At that last point, Kaito openly laughed at her. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Mm, well, Ren-san seems to want things to turn out all right, and Pandora-san seems to genuinely want free from Doc… so I don't really see what's funny," Aoko shrugged. "I mean, they all want this to work out."

 _They all want this to work out…_ Maybe he hadn't thought that through as much as he should have. He remained quiet the rest of the walk back to the base, but kept an arm around Aoko. She was right. It wasn't some strange cosmic joke that brought the three visitors from the future to this time. They had planned it. Put their hopes in it, or at least, Doc had. The only thing that would happen if he didn't place his trust in them would be bloodshed. _There's also the traitor that we were warned about,_ Kaito thought, reflecting on Doc's parting words. _He never gave us a name, so it's likely that he doesn't know who exactly is pulling the strings, but it won't hurt to be cautious. I hope he's wrong, though._

* * *

The whole debacle tonight had been exhausting, Ren thought as he headed back to their room for whatever meager sleep he could get before heading out in the morning. It was great of Doc not to let him in on any of the important details, like when they were leaving, what they were doing, or how many times he'd actually done this before! Seriously, how did that guy expect him to be helpful or _pull his own weight_ if he was left in the dark throughout the whole mission? It was obnoxious in the extreme. And _now_ he had to deal with some kind of monster fox that apparently was the gem they were after in _this_ time! And _naturally_ , it had a grudge against him.

None of them had spoken to each other on the way back. Doc had seemed preoccupied with something, possibly some minor visual hallucinations, and Pandora had just been keeping its head held high and letting out soft growls. That left Ren to think through everything that had been revealed tonight.

It was still mind-boggling that Doc had somehow gained the ability to just take _shortcuts_ , of all things, through _time_. _But the evidence I saw… it's definitely lending more toward that than it being some form of stage magic,_ Ren thought, clearly unhappy with his answer. _If it were magic, Doc would've still brushed up against Pandora at some point, which didn't happen. They'd been way too close and Pandora was out for blood at the time, yet Doc had managed to get right behind him without making a sound or any kind of distraction… Where the hell did he pick up a skill like that?_

Once they were in their room, Pandora left in a huff, leaving Doc and Ren alone. Apparently it had a higher pride than what Ren had originally thought, as it was appeared too insulted to sleep in the same room as the humans. Well, if he was honest, Ren really didn't mind not having that thing in the room he was trying to sleep in. "Touchy, isn't it?" he snorted as Doc settled down again.

"It can't stand us," the immortal shrugged. "But… I can't really blame it." Well, that response wasn't encouraging.

"Hey," Ren mumbled, "we're not that bad, you know?"

"Goodnight," Doc murmured, rolling on his side to turn his back on Ren.

 _Thanks…_ the old detective thought, feeling a bit dejected. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to get back to sleep. Tonight had been pretty rough on his nerves... Actually… "Hey, Doc."

"What…?" the immortal mumbled, still facing the wall.

"Where exactly did Pandora come from?" He could understand that he'd been wrong about the monster fox not existing, but where had it appeared from? There had to be some trigger, right? It hadn't just showed up because it felt like it.

"Dunno…" Doc answered quietly, voice muffled. "Saw that damn raven from outside the window… then Pandora was taking a bite out of me… Goodnight."

The raven? He couldn't possibly be thinking about the raven from their time, right? That wouldn't make sense. Sure, that thing was extremely clever for a bird, but it wouldn't just tag along with time-travel, of all things, right? And how would Doc know anything about the raven that had stalked him to the old base, anyway? It clearly wasn't one of Doc's birds. Not by the way he spoke of it.

 _I guess I'll have to ask for details in the morning,_ Ren thought. _Doc's a bit too unresponsive tonight… Though, tomorrow looks like it'll be pretty eventful… I hope everything turns out all right…_

* * *

 _The alliance has formed... the pawns are in place._

3 26 4 14 9 10 15 24 13 22 21 20…

14 3 26 4 14 18 22 15 2 2…


	7. (This Job Was) Already Bad Enough

_Sorry for how long this chapter took. Life got in the way._

 _As always, thanks to everyone who has favorited, followed, reviewed, or viewed. It's kind of cool to know people are reading this even when it's in an involuntary hiatus. I hope to get more out soon, as well as the first chapters for_ The Inferno _and_ Carnival of Chaos.

 _No particular warnings for this chapter, beyond strong language. Though I will say, Doc's personality is in no means consistent. This is more a him thing than a me thing, haha._

* * *

Ren awoke to the uncomfortable sensation of something jabbing him in the side. With a deeply annoyed groan, the detective stretched and cracked open an eye. Ren flinched. Pandora sat beside him with a toothy grin, made eye contact, and then continued to jab the detective in the side with a claw.

"You can stop anytime," Ren said flatly, offering the fox a glare. He wasn't terribly surprised to find that it had no effect on the beast. The detective shifted his glance to a nearby window; based on the light streaming into the room, it was probably around dawn. Feeling another claw to the side, Ren snapped, "Stop it, already! I'm up!"

Rather than give a reply, Pandora just offered a smug look and chuckled before standing up. The fox took a few steps toward the doorway and grumbled, "We're leaving in a few minutes. Get around or get left behind." With that said, Pandora walked off, leaving Ren alone in the silence of the dawn.

Ren sighed and placed a hand on Doc's bed to help him up. Getting old was far from fun. He idly wondered if Doc had any of the same problems with movement, given the number of injuries the immortal had collected over the years. Though, with the regenerative sparks, it was debatable. But, that wasn't the point. It was time to get up and prepare for the monumental task standing before him.

He quickly checked his guns and ammunition. The two guns he had on him—his HK45 and Megure-keibu's Glock 22—would just have to make the cut. Although each held a considerable number of rounds, there would always be the looming threat of emptying both magazines in the warehouse. Even if he could reload, the question remained if he could do so before anyone ended up dead. And, that brought up the questionable impact on the timeline if someone died. Well, someone that wasn't supposed to. And, unfortunately, that also meant he'd have to safeguard the _Black Organization_ _members_ from _Doc_ if things turned out unfavorably. Ren rubbed at his temples. Just fantastic. There wasn't enough ammo between both timelines to keep Doc at bay if the immortal felt _any_ homicidal mania in the _heart_ of their enemies' lair. And Pandora, too. The fox seemed to enjoy violence a bit too much… which meant that in addition to keeping the Black Organization from killing Kaito, Aoko, and Akako, he also had to keep Doc and Pandora from killing the Black Organization members. The detective gave out a long, low groan.

"Get a move on, already!" Pandora's voice snapped from the doorway. "Need to be at the warehouse before the brats!"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it!" Ren snapped back. He sighed again and checked his wounded shoulder. He slightly cringed; it still hurt. His reaction time was going to be pretty bad, at least with that arm. At least it was only his left arm. It would probably be another day or so before the pain fully subsided.

There wasn't much else to do. This hadn't been a trip he'd been planning, and what little he did bring with him had been packed in his rage. No extra clothes or anything to help him feel even the least bit refreshed. It wasn't really a problem, but it would've helped.

Sparing Doc's bed a glance, Ren was surprised to find some spare clothes set out. They appeared to be some of the spares Kaito kept around his hideouts. It wouldn't hurt…

"Get your ass out here or I'm dragging you out, myself!" Pandora roared.

Ren gave one last glance to the clothes and moved to the doorway. "I'm ready. Now kindly shut up."

"About time," Pandora huffed. Ren couldn't quite tell where the fox was, though he was certainly nearby. "In here," the fox grumbled, poking a small head out from the hood of Doc's jacket. Ren blinked. "What?"

"You're… smaller… than I remember." If Pandora was still anatomically proportional, he'd have to be the size of a terrier, just judging by the fox's exposed head.

"Don't mention it," Pandora growled, fur slightly bristling. "I don't like being small."

 _Honestly, that's one thing we agree on,_ Ren thought. Those days as Conan… they were rough in their own way. Sure, they helped him learn to truly value his friends and family, but the strain on his body had been immense, and the embarrassment and vulnerability had been maddening. And even two-and-a-half decades after receiving the antidote, he still had lingering heart problems.

"Can we get a move on?" Doc asked, drawing both the fox's and detective's attention. He looked horribly uncomfortable and much paler than normal. His typically neutral expression was contorted into a mixture between a cringe and deep anxiety.

"Why's Pandora in your hood?" Ren asked, raising an eyebrow. The two of them were far from friendly, to say the least. In fact, Pandora was outright hostile and Doc was very much still terrified, if the human immortal's anxiety was anything to go by. Yesterday's courage must've been a fluke.

"It's… it's hard to hide him…" Doc started, making an awkward gesture with his hands. "He's a four-tailed fox with blood-red and white fur… pretty eye-catching, regardless of size…"

"Oh, shut up," the fox snarled, making Doc flinch. "Didn't seem to mind yesterday, _ne?_ "

Again, Doc winced. "You didn't exactly give us a choice on that…" Doc gave a slight whimper of pain as the fox lifted a paw out from his jacket and jabbed his claws into the back of the human immortal's neck.

"Cut it out!" Ren snapped, pulling his gun on instinct. The muzzle was immediately aimed at Pandora's head. Doc let out a startled noise, but didn't move.

Pandora gave another smug look, but complied. "Today's going to be fun; don't you think so, Kudou?" The only response the fox got was a glare as Ren reholstered his weapon. It wasn't worthwhile to get trigger-happy this early in the morning.

It took a moment for Doc to snap out of his fear response and return to moderate anxiety, but finally he murmured, "You remember the blueprints of the warehouse, right?"

Ren nodded an affirmative. "Hard not to." That was putting it mildly. After guiding Doc's group through that hellhole… the excavation… the body searches and cleanup… No, the details of that place would forever haunt him.

Doc gave a slight nod. "We need to spread out. Carnage was worse in the basement… Pandora and I will be there… I want you to be on active guard for the kids…" Doc must've noticed the skeptical look Ren gave him, because he murmured, "We won't kill anyone… Not on purpose… But the kids' lives are more important than a few Black Organization members'… There would… there would be a lot of distortion if we killed too many…"

"Define 'too many' for me," Ren replied, still very much concerned.

"More than one," Doc answered quietly. "Last time I tried something like that…" he appeared to be remembering such an incident, which greatly concerned Ren. "…Forget it… it… it was bad… I can't really afford to do that with you here…"

That was less than encouraging. But, yes, Ren's fear wasn't unfounded. While time may be tough, it had a limit. Apparently surpassing that limit would be dangerous. But, the question remained, why did nothing happen to their own timeline? If Doc had surpassed that limit before, why had there been no repercussions?

"Let's go," Doc murmured, leading the way out of the hideout. Ren followed. "You can ask what you'd like… I… wasn't in the mood last night…"

"Oi, Fox, get back in the hood," Ren muttered, catching up to Doc and matching his pace easily enough. Although he received a withering glare for his comment, Pandora did actually listen and pop back down into the confines of the jacket, which made Doc freeze, shiver, and let out a slight whimper before the immortal started on his way again.

"…You would…" Doc muttered, shaking his head and walking further ahead.

Well that was great. Predictably, that stunt kept Doc silenced for the rest of their trip to the warehouse. As they drew nearer, the old memories of this place started to crop up in the forefront of Ren's mind. _The wet, raspy breaths as Doc collapsed onto the cold and unforgiving concrete floor… Bullet holes that tore through his trench coat, not through the heart but through the lungs… The blood that all to quickly pooled beneath his friend… The dying twitches before Doc went completely still… The silence after their enemies had left… After Doc…_

Ren blinked and shook his head. He couldn't afford to be distracted. Not today. They were drawing far too close to the warehouse. Soon, there would be armed guards ready to ambush and kill them.

The moment the shadow of the warehouse—a seemingly decrepit building by all appearances that housed a massive underground facility—came into view, Doc led the way into one of the other nearby buildings. Honestly, this whole area had been left to rot for years, if not decades. Even with the early morning sun gracing the summer morning with warmth and light, the entire area felt eerily quiet and gloomy. It didn't help that Ren was hyperaware of his surroundings at the moment. Every slight sound of the wind scraping metal against metal, or every imagined set of footsteps was a strike on his nerves. He almost didn't dare to breathe.

Doc moved toward the center of the floor, still within view of the broken entryway door, and leaned against a concrete column. The immortal then pulled out a pipe and started cleaning it with the fabric of his jacket.

"What are you doing?" Ren dared to ask. Wasn't Doc nervous? If they were caught early, then the kids would have to deal with a nearly impossible job. Or worse, the Pandora gem would be removed from the facility entirely, which would create an entirely new set of problems.

"…Waiting," Doc replied, still cleaning off his pipe. His nervousness vanished and was replaced by a vicious grin. "We're going to meet some friends soon… I'd hate to leave them unattended to, wouldn't you?"

"You want them to find us?" Ren asked, surprised. Wasn't the point of this to be stealthy? To hide in the shadows and help the kids without being noticed?

"It makes my job easier," Doc said, meeting Ren's eyes with a dangerous smirk.

"No killing," Ren said, unnerved. Apparently Doc _was_ being affected by this oppressive tension, after all. The detective couldn't really say that he liked _how_ Doc was reacting, though. At least when he was in a depressive mood, Doc would be cold and calculating about every decision. Right now… he looked about ready for a manic episode. He looked like he was on the verge of going into a killing spree… Could he really be trusted down in the core of the facility alone?

"Who said anything about killing, Ren-chan?" Doc purred, poking at the sharpened edge of his pipe with a finger. "I just want to… have a bit of _fun_ while I'm here, you know?" The immortal's grin grew a cruel edge, and his eyes reflected madness.

Before Ren could utter another word, the light from the doorway was obscured by two silhouettes. The detective didn't need to get a proper look to know they were Black Organization members: the feeling of ice in his veins was enough of a hint.

"Who are you?" one of the two snarled, pulling out some type of pistol. "Don't you know this place is off-limits to civilians?"

Doc finally moved from his place against the column to walk over to the men. "Oh, so there're two of you this time? Great! Nice to meet you again."

"Again? What the hell are you on?" the other asked in a gruff voice.

"One question at a time, boys. One question at a time," Doc replied jovially. His tone put Ren on-edge. The detective got a firm grip on his gun. They didn't have room for mistakes. If he had to, he'd shoot Doc to spare the timeline from catastrophe… he just hoped he didn't have to.

"Who the hell are you?" the first repeated, walking up to Doc and jabbing the immortal in the chest with his gun.

"Your worst nightmare." The phrase was said so matter-of-factly that it took everyone off-guard.

"What?!" But that was all the man had time to say before Doc had stabbed him through the hip, ripped the pipe back out, and kicked him aside. The man cried out in pain as his partner took aim at Doc, only to find the immortal nowhere in sight.

"Where the fuck are you?!" Fear and rage contorted the man's features as he turned in every direction, looking for his elusive foe. It wasn't long before the blunt end of the pipe came crashing down onto the man's skull, downing him instantly.

"Here I am," Doc said with good cheer. He then walked back over to the man he'd stabbed and brought the pipe down on his head for good measure. With both enemies incapacitated (and hopefully only that), Doc gave an expectant look over to Ren. "Free disguise."

 _So that's what he was up to…_ Ren honestly couldn't say if he was relieved that this was part of the plan, or if he was disgusted that they'd just mugged those grunts for their clothes. Probably a mixture of both. "Er… thanks." Before stripping either man of their garments, however, Ren quickly checked their vitals.

"You really don't trust me, do you?" Doc said airily, seemingly unbothered by Ren's lack of confidence in him. Instead, he resumed wiping his pipe clean.

"…Better safe than sorry." Although he'd rather not resort to nearly fracturing skulls over a disguise and some additional gear, he couldn't change what had happened. It was probably better just to go along with it. Between the two men, Ren found one whose clothing seemed most likely to fit him and collected what he needed. For good measure, he frisked both for weapons and communications devices.

After Ren had finished stripping them of gear and one of clothes, Doc roughly bound the men together with sharp metal wires, gagged them with some fabric ripped from the unstripped man's clothing, and dragged them off into the dark confines of the decrepit building. Ren made a mental note to return and free those two later.

Now wearing a much more fitting dark trench coat and fedora, Ren gave a sigh. It was only temporary. He had to blend in, otherwise he'd just be a sitting duck, regardless of how stealthy he may or may not be. Doc's team had proven that already.

"How did you know we'd be followed?" Ren asked.

"It's happened enough times in the other timelines I've visited to be predictable. There's always some variance in the number that follows me, but numbers don't really mean much to me, now do they?" Doc answered with a wolfish grin. "Always fun to screw with their heads a bit by flash-stepping, even if it's unnecessary."

"How come you didn't bother changing clothes?" It wasn't really an accusation, though it may have come off as such. Doc's jacket and jeans were both black, and he'd probably blend in moderately well so long as he remained out of direct sight.

"Hmm, I don't really need to. They're on the lookout for Shinichi and Kaito, so if I show up, it diverts attention pretty fast." With a harsh and cold laugh, Doc added, "Plus, I don't give a damn about bullet hell. They can hit me all they want and it won't do anything."

"Screw you, Corpse!" Pandora barked from the confines of Doc's jacket. "If you get hit by a shower of bullets, _I'm_ going to have to regenerate you, whether I want to or not!"

"Heehee, I know, right? It'll be fun!" Doc almost fell into a fit of laughter, but managed to reel himself back from his levity. "Nah, I don't plan on getting hit much. If I do, it's because I'm not paying attention."

"Humph! Just don't get hit at all!" the fox snapped.

"No promises," Doc chuckled. Then, looking back to Ren, he grinned. "Ready?"

"As I can be," Ren answered, uneasy.

"I'll hold you to it, then. If you have anything you want done, do it now. We've got maybe ten… fifteen minutes before the kids show up and the party gets started." Again, the tone of Doc's voice was disturbing at best. However, given their location, the people around them, and the severity of the mission, it would be next to impossible to calm Doc down. They'd just have to run this by on faith…

* * *

The day had finally arrived. Kaito hadn't slept well the previous night. There was simply too much to digest… too much to worry about. There was likely a traitor amongst them. One that neither Doc nor Ren had been capable of identifying even some twenty-odd-years down the road. Whoever it was, they were crafty. They were beyond clever.

He'd been thinking all night about whether or not to inform anyone about the presence of the traitor. On one hand, it would be nice to put them on their toes, to have better backup, and to keep Shinichi, Hattori, and Hakuba ready to leap at a moment's notice. On the other, mentioning the traitor out loud would draw attention. In fact, it might actually accelerate their plans and wind up killing them. The conclusion he'd reached was that the safest (ha!) option was to place his trust in Ren and Doc. And even then, the group from the future was difficult to place much faith in, despite Aoko's claims. They had _said_ a few heartening things, but actions spoke magnitudes louder than words.

As much as he wanted to inform Shinichi about what was going to happen… what might happen… Kaito knew it wasn't safe. If the traitor was among them, it was likely that any form of information transfer was unsafe. That may just be paranoia, but the traitor could be anyone… anywhere. An unhelpful thought had come by in the night that because Doc and Ren couldn't discern the identity of the traitor… that it was probably someone in their inner circle. Someone they trusted deeply. What if it was Shinichi himself?

Of course, the thought was ridiculous! But, at the same time… Ren wouldn't outright admit that he was the traitor under any circumstances… if he were, of course. And the one that had ultimate say over how the mission would be carried out… the person that could veto or replace anyone on the team on a whim… that was Shinichi. But it was still extremely unlikely! Categorically impossible, even!

Still, the result of those thoughts and others of a similar nature had the very unfortunate effect of rendering sleep impossible. Thankfully, he could work under these conditions and the sleep deprivation, though he would probably need to crash for a few hours after the mission was completed.

"Kaito?" Aoko asked, prodding his side with an elbow. "Are you okay?"

"…Eh? Er, yeah, I'm fine," Kaito answered, doing his level-best to radiate confidence and calm. "Was just thinking things through."

Akako gave him a searching look, though Kaito couldn't say if she found what she was looking for or not by her expression. She seemed a bit nervous… Well, nervous compared to the norm, anyway. Her hands looked tense, like she was fighting the urge to ball them into fists. Her eyes had an uncertain look to them, though, to be fair, Aoko and even the team's guides (Shinichi, Hakuba, and Akio) looked just as anxious, if not more so.

"It'll be all right," Kaito said with a grin, hoping to alleviate the group's fears. Best to keep the show of confidence as strong as he could, if only to keep the team strong. "Do we have the go-ahead, Shinichi?"

The detective in question gave them yet another once-over, eyes searching each and every aspect of their respective disguises for any sign of imperfection. It had been a truly simplistic, yet effective design, if Kaito could say so. Most of the Organization members wore simple dark (gray to black) trench coats, after all. Only the higher ups were allowed the actual suits or any spark of originality. By abusing their system of conformity, it made his job all the easier. Simple latex to mask original facial features and give each a more generic, somewhat roguish look and colored contacts both came in handy as well. Basically, the idea was to look as generic as possible without becoming spectacularly generic. Given Shinichi's continued silence, and the other failed attempts to find fault, Kaito was willing to bet their answer would be yes.

Shinichi gave a long sigh. "Okay. Yeah, you're free to go. But I want to emphasize: _be careful_. You're going to wind up four levels underground. If you get caught… I don't think there's much anyone can do to save you. Whether they be your guards or not."

Kaito carefully watched the body language of each of the present members. There were definite signs of anxiety, but beyond that, it was impossible to tell if anyone was more suspicious than any other. _How does Shinichi know about our guards?_ Kaito thought, worried, but masking that with a neutral Poker Face. _I mean, he knows about Doc and Ren… but I didn't think Aoko told him about last night… what if it's her?_

The magician had to almost physically stop himself at that thought. There was no way in _hell_ that Aoko was the traitor. For one, that was suicidal. Another point against that was that everyone throwing themselves into the line of fire had been friends for many years now. It wouldn't make sense to try to kill anyone this way, given the inherent risk to oneself. So… that meant that the traitor couldn't be Aoko or Akako. _Yeah… if you can't find out who the traitor_ is _, then maybe ruling people out would be more productive. Stay positive, Kuroba._

"Understood," Kaito vocalized. "We're trusting you guys to lead us through," he grinned as he poked the area next to his earpiece. "See ya later."

With that, Kaito, Aoko, and Akako made their way out from the base and toward the Black Organization warehouse. The morning was pleasant enough, with the sun lighting the path before them with vibrant reds. Even the warm breeze seemed to push them ever-closer to their fate. Everything was calm. Everything was exactly as it should be.

One of the perks of disguising as grunts was that they had a tendency to travel in groups. Another was that very little was actually expected of them, beyond following the orders of their bosses and the higher-ups. Of course, this also came with the downfall that they would soon encounter: the grunts only had limited access of any facility in any area. But, given Kaito's expertise forged by years as Kid, this probably wouldn't matter much. Aoko and Akako were there for cover and also as a form of insurance, should something go wrong. Even if Kaito, himself, couldn't obtain Pandora, one of them would be certain to while he created a distraction. Not the most optimistic of plans, but that's why it was the backup plan.

Sure enough, when they arrived at the warehouse, they were scrutinized, but given access to the facility. It hardly looked like much on the outside: the windows were all broken in by a mixture of time, storms, and the odd teenage vandal, the doors were almost nonexistent, leaving guards to stand in the shadow of the entryway to avoid detection… and the inside of the uppermost part of the facility wasn't much better. Rooms were dull and gray and emanated a musty odor, while ceiling tiles had started falling here and there… It was a rather forgettable location on the surface. But, the surface was the least of their concerns at the moment. No, they needed to find the hatch, pass another visual inspection by yet more guards, and begin their descent.

No one spoke as they passed inspection and continued down to the first sublevel of the facility. What natural light there had been quickly died and all that surrounded them was cold and artificial. Although, naturally, there weren't a terribly large number of sensitive machines or research tasks being done on this level, there certainly were a large number of computers. However, to do so little as to glance at the screens for more than a single second would be fatal. They'd just have to wait on the data collection and evidence retrieval teams to return with their findings.

There were a larger number of Black Organization members on this level. If Kaito remembered correctly, this level would have the highest concentration of members even compared to all other levels above and below combined. It made sense, given this area was of minimal clearance and furnished with chairs, tables, and a small kitchen. They had maybe one more floor before things would get complicated. Grunts spoke in small clusters here and there, while others buzzed about their tasks. Within that sea of bodies, Kaito's group went largely unnoticed.

A figure caught Kaito's eye, if only for a second. An instinctive fear worked its way down his spine, but he needed to keep his composure. Poker face, especially now, was key.

He continued his way to the staircase, as the elevators were reserved for the higher-ups and scientists. It was a must, he reminded himself, to act his role to the letter. To not create any noticeable discrepancies. By this point onward, any mistakes would cost them their lives.

The stairway was largely unimpressive. More guards lingered near the top landing, giving very little chance of avoiding another inspection. A casual glance down made it clear that there were guards stationed at each and every landing. This would be a complete pain in the ass, because any questionable move would draw every guard's attention to them. Attention meant bullets. Bullets were a great medium in which to kill one's self or others, but generally were unproductive in securing the gem of immortality.

As expected, they passed through to the second underground floor's landing with little problem. The visual inspection turned into demands for proper identification key cards, which were provided after some manufactured fumbling. However, at the third underground floor's landing, they were stopped and questioned. Presenting key cards was no longer good enough.

"Clearance check," the taller of the two guards demanded.

" _They mean which Code Name are you under,"_ Shinichi helpfully, though redundantly, translated.

"Bourbon," Kaito answered gruffly. Not enough to challenge the guard's authority, but enough to show irritation. Enough to show that he'd done this song and dance before. Aoko and Akako mimicked him quite convincingly.

"Entrance code," the shorter guard said. He seemed bored. Kaito was fairly certain he didn't want that to change anytime soon.

"AJ725…E68H…29B," Kaito replied, staggering out a few of the pieces. He'd learned his lesson from the clock tower heist about reciting complex codes too easily. Easy recitation was suspicious.

Aoko and Akako also recited the codes as pieced to them by Hakuba and Akio. After yet more suspicious looks, which were customary by this point, the guards allowed them to continue their descent. By the final set of guards at the fourth underground landing, the atmosphere had become extremely tense. It felt hard to breathe properly.

"Go on," the taller guard murmured, urging them inside. Wait, what? Upon closer inspection, Kaito could make out Ren's features beneath all of the dark attire and the fedora. The shorter guard didn't react. They definitely weren't Doc, though. In fact, Kaito was fairly certain they were unconscious. Well, that simplified things.

Kaito gave a curt nod of understanding before allowing Ren to open the door for them. Aoko and Akako were close behind. The magician couldn't be certain that Ren would follow them in, but he was glad that they hadn't needed to bluff their way past the research facility guards.

" _Who was that?"_ Shinichi asked. Apparently the camera hadn't been in an opportune location. Realizing that Kaito wasn't about to answer, mostly due to location, the detective murmured, _"All right. I'll trust your judgment on this one. Aim for the center room. Pandora is contained in there."_ Kaito gave a slight cough, covering it with a hand. It was as close to a noise of acknowledgment as he could get at the moment.

The fourth underground floor was filled with high-ranking Black Organization members (though none Kaito could recognize) and scientists in white lab coats scurrying from place to place. Some carried clipboards, others carried what appeared to be samples—though, of what, Kaito had no idea—and still more were sitting at computers typing what appeared to be complex data. Unlike the first underground floor, this floor held no idle chitchat, and, instead, was filled with an absolutely chilling silence and an oppressive air. Even the ventilation system and the soft clicking of keyboards seemed far too loud here. There were also areas of focused light, mostly in rooms where experiments were taking place, and areas of almost no light. Navigating through the darker areas would be a bit of a pain, as it would be unlikely that their eyes would adjust quickly enough to be of use, which meant that they would have to rely on Shinichi and the others for proper guidance. If there were any floor that the traitor would act on, it would be this one.

From the corner of his eye, Kaito saw a flash of blood-red eyes. _Doc?_ he wondered. But the figure had already vanished from sight. Maybe it was just the cold air from the ventilation, but a deep-set chill worked its way down his spine.

" _No time to waste, Kaito,"_ Shinichi said, stirring Kaito from his momentary pause. _"Take the center path for the next five meters, then, take a right. It should be the second door on your left."_

With another cough of acknowledgement, Kaito did as instructed. From a distance, he could hear the entryway door close. Ren, probably. Hopefully no one would notice the unconscious guard… or they'd soon run into trouble.

Although the hallway was dimly lit, it was at least navigable. The only sounds that permeated this far were the sounds of their footsteps on the tile floors. There was warm breath hitting the back of Kaito's neck. Either Aoko or Akako were far too close. "Give me some space," the magician gruffly stated, keeping as in-character as he could.

"What are you talking about?" Aoko's disguised voice asked, a bit annoyed.

"Neither of us are touching you," Akako responded dryly.

There were fingers working through the material of his trench coat, tickling and gripping at his sides. It felt familiar, but inappropriate, given the mission at hand.

"Stop touching me," Kaito insisted, trying to smack away the hands. One of his hands managed to smack something. It wasn't a wall. It also wasn't Aoko or Akako. Neither Ren nor Doc would pull a stunt like this. _Pandora? …No. Probably not._ The touch and breath on his neck disappeared, but Kaito was certain whoever or whatever had just done that was still nearby. The thought brought his nerves on-end. Both girls made a confused noise, but Kaito assured them that whatever had been there was gone. No need to make them think he'd spazzed out.

With a grunt for them to continue, Kaito led the girls to the room specified by Shinichi. It was do or die from this point on.

* * *

 _And so it begins..._


End file.
